REMINISCENCES 

Sj ROBERT M. HOWAR^, 





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Grand-pa and His Bright, Beautiful Sunbeams. 



REMINISCENCES 



BY 

ROBERT M. HOWARD. 



Columbus, Qa. 

GILBERT PRINTING CO. 
1912. 



Besarr© Storage P ? ^ / 



Copyright, 1912 



ROBERT M. HOWARD. 



gC!,A314033 



DEDICATION. 



With sweet love I dedicate these "Reminiscences" to the true 
men and peerless women of "Dixie" 1861-1865 and their 
worthy descendants and to the Critic I respectfully say, "Put 
yourself in his place." 



R. M. HOWARD. 



Columbus, Ga. 
March 21st, 1912. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Chapter I 1 

Chapter II 14 

Chapter III 27 

Chapter IV ------ . 33 

Chapter V - - 38 

Chapter VI 50 

Chapter VII -70 

Chapter VIII - - 100 

Chapter IX - 104 

Chapter X I33 

Chapter XI 173 

Chapter XII 176 

Chapter XIII 198 

Chapter XIV 203 

Chapter XV - 213 

Chapter XVI - 221 

Chapter XVII 232 

Chapter XVIII 265 

Chapter XIX - 275 



CHAPTER I. 

"And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." 

T AM the son of Aug-ustus Howard, of Sanders ville, 
■■■ Ga., and Martha, daug-hter of Gen. Ezekiel and 
Mary Wimberly, of Twig"g"s County, Ga. I was born 
in Houston County, Ga., January 11, 1834. In 1836 
my father moved to the home of my grandmother, 
now known as the Garrard home, in Wynnton, 
a suburb of Columbus, Ga. In this house, when 
I was three years old, the fond recollections of 
the handsome face and majestic form of my father 
and the hallowed memorj^ of my beautiful mother 
had their birth, and were I an artist I could to-day, 
from these blessed, fadeless memories, paint true to 
life the portrait of each; and here beg-an a life 
which from that day to this has had its full share of 
sunshine and storm, of joy and sorrow, of sweet and 
bitter; subject to all the frailties and imperfections, 
the same impulses for g-ood and evil to which 
humanity is heir. I have known many better by 
nature and practice than I have been; I have known 
many no better than my long- life has proven and 
some not as g"ood. I have ever implicitly believed 
in and taken sweet comfort and consolation in ad- 
versity, burdens and cares in "Thy will, O God; not 
mine, be done." I still most vividly remember the 

2 



8 REMINISCENCES. 

very first Sabbath school I ever attended when the 
teacher read the Beatitudes from Matthew v, and 
"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see 
God" impressed me at the time deeply indeed. 

When my father moved to Columbus there were 
many Creek Indians in Russell County, Ala., who 
soon became hostile and killed many men, women, 
and children. There were seven of them tried for 
murder in Girard just across the Chattahoochee River 
and hung- at the same time from the same g-allows. 
On ascending- the scaffold each one was asked if he 
had ever done anything- for which he was sorry; six 
answered no; the other said he killed an entire 
family the last one of which was a babe he took 
from its cradle and dashed its brains out ag-ainst a 
tree; he said he took the baby in his arms, it smiled 
in his face; for this he was sorry and for nothing- 
else. As the trap was sprung- they g-ave the terrible 
Indian war whoop. Soon after this the tribe was 
removed by the United States Government to the far 
West, and in 1906 and 1907 I saw many Creek 
Indians in Indian Territory. 

In 1838 my father moved into the home he had 
completed in Wynnton, now owned by Robert Car- 
ter. I started to school in 1839 to a Yankee school- 
marm near our home, Miss Lee (afterwards Mrs. 
Wayland) who g-ave me the only whipping- I ever 
had at school. She was no kith or kindred of our 
immortal Robert E. Lee, and from that gfood day to 



REMINISCENCES. 8 

this I have never been half way dead in love with 
Yankee school-marms. This school was attended 
mostly by girls, and the sweetest, smartest and most 
beautiful one of that larg-e school afterwards became 
my stepmother; she was my champion then, and 
there dawned in my youthful heart then a love true, 
pure, and deep that never g-rew less and is to-day 
hallowed by sweet memories of that beautiful girl. 
Of the many who attended that school, all save one 
and myself have passed over to the great beyond. 

Well do I remember the political slogan of the 
Whig party in 1840, "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," 
and saw it carried at the head of a large line of en- 
thusiastic, shouting men and boys with a coon and 
keg of hard cider and a new broom with which the 
Democratic party was swept from the political field. 
(My oldest brother was named John Tyler Howard.) 
A short time after the inauguration of President 
Harrison in March, 1841, the city bridge at the foot 
of Dillingham Street spanning the Chattahoochee 
River was washed away and landed in Woolf oik's 
Bend several miles south of the city. That event 
has ever been called and remembered as the Harrison 
Freshet. The water was eight feet deep on the first 
floor of the building now owned by the Muscogee 
Manufacturing Co., and occupied by them with their 
offices. At that time the building was, with the 
entire block, the home of James S, Calhoun and his 
wife, who was my aunt. 



4 REMINISCENCES. 

My mother died July 12, 1842. 

"Yes, 1 have left the golden shore, 
Where childhood 'midst the roses played; 
Those sunny dreams will come no more, 
That youth a long, bright Sabbath made. 
Yet while those dreams of memory's eye 
Arise In many a glittering train. 
My soul goes back to infaucy. 
And hears my mother's song again." 

My sister Anna and myself lived with our grand- 
mother and aunt, Mrs. Crocker, in Twig^gs County 
(my brother Tyler remaining- with my father at his 
home in Russell County, Ala.) until October 1844, 
when my father married Ann Jane Lindsay (oldest 
sister of my wife) daughter of S. C. and E. B. 
Lindsay. 

During- the campaig-n of 1844 between Polk and 
Clay for President, Walter T. Colquitt, of Columbus, 
a member of Congfress from Georg-ia, and one of the 
most eloquent orators of his g-eneration, either 
South or North, addressed a very larg-e Democratic 
mass meeting- in middle Georg-ia. A. H. Stephens, 
the idol of the Whig- party of Georg-ia, was present. 
Colquitt, pointing- to Stephens with all the scorn 
and satire that lang-uage could paint, said, "I could 
pin back his hug-e ears and bodaciously swallow him 
alive." To which little Alec promptly replied, 
"And if you did you would have more brains in your 
stomach than you have in your empty head;" upon 
which the eloquent Colquitt suddenly collapsed. 



REMINISCENCES. 6 

My uncle, Tliacker B. Howard, of Columbus, was a 
Clay elector from Georg-ia in the election held at 
that time. Many years ag-o a noted Eng-lishman 
visited Washing-ton City when the national Cong-ress 
was in session, was taken by a friend to the Repre- 
sentatives' Hall and asked to scan thoroug-hly every 
member in the vast hall below and point out the 
g-reatest man in that assembly. After the lapse of 
considerable time he pointed to Stephens; upon 
which the friend said, "And why him?" The answer 
was, "The mere fact of his being- here stamps him 
the g-reatest man I see before me." 

In 1845 I attended a private school (tau^^ht by 
Miss Lydia Salmon, of Wadesboro, N. C.) in the home 
of Mr. S. C. Lindsay, who g-ave me a fine Indian 
pony, and seventeen years later became my father- 
in-law. I went to school near the home of my 
father in Russell County, Ala., during- 1846 and 
1847. For the next four years I went to school to 
John Isham in Wynnton and Columbus, the last three 
years of which I spent with my dearly loved cousin 
Mrs. Randall Jones on Rose Hill. Such was her love 
for me and attention shown me at all times that a 
strang-er visiting- the home would have said she was 
my mother and not my cousin. 

I have a silver cup upon which is inscribed the 
following-: "Awarded by the M. and R, A. S. at the 
fair Nov. 1850 to Robert M. Howard for the best 
treatise on the farm by a youth . ' ' The committee 



6 REMINISCENCES. 

making" the award said, "In awarding" the premium 
to Robert M. Howard for the best treatise on the 
farm by a youth, we mean it in no flattery when we 
say that it would have done credit to a much older 
head." C. F. Peabody, J. M. Chambers, B. A. 
Sorsby, Committee. Several years ago I gave this 
cup to my brother Richard Howard, who above all 
men on earth is the sweet, golden apple of my eye. 
With the exception of three years I have lived with 
him since 1889. No man ever had a purer, more 
precious, more priceless pearl for wife than Dick. 
If there was ever a harsh word passed between 
Addie and myself or even an unkind thought or 
feeling I do not know it. 

When I left Isham's school in 1851 I had read 
most of the Latin and Greek authors; could read, 
write and speak both languages with almost as 
much fluency as I could English. I have retained 
much Latin. Of Greek I now know only the alpha- 
bet. Of my many former schoolmates in Columbus 
in days of "auld lang syne" — probably two hundred 
— Col. W. S. Shepherd of this city and I alone sur- 
vive. 

In January 1852 I went to the Georgia Military 
Institute at Marietta, Ga., Major A. V. Brumby, 
Superintendent. I left there in July 1853, and of 
the 175 cadets in attendance up to that time I was 
one of two that never received a demerit mark. 
In August 1853 I joined a corps of civil engineers in 



REMINISCENCES. 7 

Montg-omery, Ala., of which S. G. Jones (father of 
Ex -Governor T. G. Jones of Alabama and at 
present judg-e of the United States District Court of 
Alabama) was chief eng"ineer. John T. Milner of 
Georg-ia was principal assistant engineer. Until 
April 1861 I was eng-aged in the construction of 
different railroads in Alabama. In an excavation 
near Pintalala Creek ten miles from Moi:itg-omery 
we unearthed a turtle fourteen feet from the surface 
that was sixteen feet long" and thirteen feet wide; as 
to the lapse of time it had been there, ask the 
scientists. 

I cast my maiden vote in Hayneville, Lowndes 
County, Ala., in Aug-ust 1855 for G. D. Shortridg-e 
for g-overnor (on the Know Nothing- ticket), S. D. 
Moorer for state senator and W. Barrett for the 
lower House: we carried the county but lost the 
state. Soon after voting" an immense Irishman 
g-ave me the lie when I said I was old enough to 
vote; in an instant I landed a left-hander in one eye; 
and if the sheriff and other friends had not pulled 
me away from him I don't know what would have 
become of that modern Goliath with g"affs on like 
Saul of Tarsus breathing- out direful threatening-s . 
In g-rappling with him I must have absorbed some 
poisonous microbes, for in a very few days typhoid 
fever in a very malignant form developed and for 
several weeks I hovered between life and death. 
At that time my life-long- friend C. P. Rog-ers and I 



8 REMINISCENCES. 

were boardingf with a farmer (E. L. Sanderson, who 
had an excellent wife, two manly boys, and two 
pretty, charming- daugfhters) eng-agfed in the con- 
struction of what was then known as the Alabama & 
Florida Railroad (now Louisville & Nashville) from 
Montg-omery to Pensacola. Had. I been a son and 
brother I could not have been more tenderly and 
kindly nursed. In my room was a very larg-e clock; 
on its face were these words: "Eig'ht-day repeat- 
ing- brass clock, made by C. & N. Jerome, Bristol, 
Connecticut, 1835." Many thousand times did I 
count the ever-present tick-tock as the pendulum 
vibrated to and fro, wondering- if that clock would 
sound the last trump of time on a life that seemed 
to be fast ebbing- away on the shores of Eternity. 
My Aunt Gary, who was then spending- the summer 
at Butler Spring-s, about fifty miles away, sent her 
carriag-e for me when she heard I was sick; but I 
was too sick to be moved and remained with my 
gfood friends until I was strong- enoug-h to stand the 
trip from there to Columbus, Ga., and my father's 
home in Russell County, Ala. 

In 1857 my friend Rog-ers, realizing- the truth and 
beauty of "Two souls with but a sing-le thoug-ht, two 
hearts that beat as one," informed me that he 
intended to steal one of the brig-ht, priceless jewels 
of our former friend Sanderson, and that he needed 
my assistance, I alwaj's believed that where there 
was a g-ood deal of courting- g-oing; on the nuptial 



REMINISCENCES. 9 

knot should be speedily tied. Of course I was glad 
indeed to serve him. The conference closed with 
the understanding- that I would meet him and his 
sweetheart at a certain place near her home at eight 
o'clock on the morning of August 12th. I reached 
the place of rendezvous on time with a suit of fine 
clothes in my saddle-bags to wear at the wedding. 
They were there, and with them a young lady, 
cousin of the bride-to-be. He had only one horse 
and said to me he would take my horse and that 
I could get a mount from a certain neighbor and 
follow. The bride climbed to the top rail of a high 
fence and just as she reached it we saw something 
drop to the ground. On investigation we discovered 
that it was the bride. We soon relieved her of the 
dilemma, mounted her in the saddle, and off they rode 
at full speed. As distance gave enchantment to 
the view, the cousin turned to me and said, "Mr. 
Howard, they have gone;" and I replied, "Yes, 
and to Montgomery to be married." When I 
reached Hayneville, seven miles distant, this bold, 
dashing thief who had robbed a doting father and 
mother of their sweet, favorite daughter, had 
actually pillaged my saddle-bags of their contents 
and married in my clothes. However, "All's well 
that ends well," and that priceless pearl, that 
true, devoted wife for many years, never cast 
aught but bright sunshine and sweet smiles o'er 
the pathway of my loved and loving friend, Charlie 



10 REMINISCENCES. 

Rogfers. Fifty-four years with their many changes 
have been recorded in the Book of Time since the 
dawn of this episode. 

"Joys that we've tasted 
May sometimes return; 
But the torch when once wasted, 
Ah! how can it burn? 
Many are the changes since first we met. 
Friends have been scattered liJse roses in bloom; 
Many at the bridal, many more at the tomb." 



To my life-long- friend C. P. Rog^ers of Leto- 
hatchie, Ala. 

BE.SIDE LIKES TIDE. 

"You, Friend, and I have stood beside 
Life's flowing and Life's ebbing tide; 
Our hopes we've seen float out to sea, 
While cruel storms beat pitilessly. 
Thus stood we. Friend, uncrowned, forlorn. 
When night came down upon our morn. 

"Thus stood we, while within there grew 
A strength our faith from heaven drew, 
And in that faith our souls abide; 
God's ebbing is God's flowing tide, 
Behold on it our hopes upborne; 
The night has lifted from our morn. 

"And now, dear Friend, along the lea. 
The sunlight aud the quiet sea, 
Tho' in this peace there riseth not 
The bond of loss and common lot; 
Tho' at this task each toils apart, 
Each trusteth each, knit heart in heart. 
You, Friend and 1 have stood beside 
Life's ebbing and Life's flowing tide." 



REMINISCENCES. 11 

I lived in Greenville, Ala., during- 1856 eng-aged in 
the construction of the Alabama & Florida Rail- 
road. I sold a fine horse for $500.00 payable when 
Fillmore was declared elected president of the 
United States, another apt illustration of the old 
adage that "A fool and his money are soon 
parted . ' ' 

I lived in LaFayette, Ala., in 1860 where I had 
charg-e of g-rading- a railroad from there to Opelika. 
I contributed to a fund with which to erect a Bell 
and Everett liberty pole 125 feet hig-h from which to 
float a Bell and Everett campaign flag". I was a 
secessionist per sc believing- that each state had 
the inalienable rig-ht to secede from the Union at its 
own discretion and will. When Lincoln was de- 
clared elected president I had a larg-e secession flag- 
made; some one cut the rope to prevent me from 
hoisting- it. I went up to the arm eig-hty-tive feet 
above the ground, nailed it to the pole, stood up, 
spoke about fifteen minutes, and descended to the 
g-round. When I left there in January 1861 it was 
still proudly floating to the propitious breezes 
of Heaven. 

During the war when a certain North Carolina 
reg-iment was marching throug-h Richmond to the 
front, a little smart Aleck asked the Colonel what tar 
was worth in North Carolina; to which the Colonel 
replied, "Not a barrel in the state. Jeff Davis has 
boug-ht the last drop we had to make you Virginians 



12 REMINISCENCES. 

stick in the fight." Sometimes it is best not to be 
too inquisitive. 

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day; 
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea; 
The plowman homeward plods his weary way, 
And leaves the world to darkness and to me." 

In January 1861 my sweetheart and I, after an 
eng-ag-ement of ten years, had a lovers' quarrel (and 
the fault was all mine) and severed the engagement, 
and I bade her goodbye in these words; — 

"Thou hast wounded the spirit that loved thee, 
And cherished thine Image for years; 
Thou hast taught me, alas! to forget thee. 
In secret, in silence, in tears. 
As a young bird when led by its mother 
Its earliest pinions to try. 
Round the nest will still lingering hover 
K'er Its trembling wings can fly. 
Thus we are taught in this cold world to smother 
Each feeling of affection so dear; 
Like that young- bird I'll seek to discover 
A home of artectiou elsewhere. 
Oh! the heart that has truly loved never forgets. 
But as truly loves on to the close; 
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets 
The same look which she gave when he rose." 

And thus we parted, and never a line or message 
passed between us until "we met by chance" in July 
1862; we held an immediate council of war, declared 
an armistice, and in less than five minutes each 
unconditionally surrendered to the other. As is the 
bow to the arrow so is man to woman, useless each 



REMINISCENCES. 13 

without the other. Enchantment itself cannot sever 
two hearts tliat have been one. Prom that good 
day to the time when the sweet, brig^ht guardian 
angel of my life was crowned with fadeless glory in 
God's blissful beautiful Eden, I loved every foot- 
print she made in this vale of sunshine and storm. 



CHAPTER II 



WHEN General Beaureg-ard's first g-un, April 12, 
1861, at Charleston, S. C, startled this 
Government from center to circumference and rever- 
berated througfhout the entire civilized world, I was 
engfag-ed as a civil eng-ineer in g-rading- what is now 
the Louisville & Nashville Railroad at Decatur, Ala., 
on the Tennessee River. I was one of the hundred 
and twenty-five young" men who at once formed a 
company and tendered our services to the Confeder- 
ate States Government at Montgomery, Ala., for en- 
listment of one year; the Secretary of War replied 
that the g"overnment would receive no troops for 
less than three years or the continuance of the war; 
a majority of the company voted ag^ainst a longer 
enlistment than one year and disbanded at once. 

I bought a ticket to Richmond, Va., and arrived 
in that city the next day at 12 o'clock and joined the 
Second South Carolina Reg-iment (commanded by 
Colonel J. D. Kershaw) that had been mustered into 
service that morning-; we left that nig-ht for the front. 

After leaving- Decatur, I never saw any one I had 
ever known before until after the first battle of 
Manassas. 

We stopped several weeks at Mitchell's Ford on 
Bull Run and with other troops built a few miles of 



REMINISCENCES. 15 

breastworks, and then advanced to Fairfax Court- 
house, about eig-hteen miles from Washing-ton, and 
here, on July 16th, saw a beautiful young- woman on 
a thoroughbred race horse running at full speed, 
g-racefully dismount at General Beauregard's head- 
quarters and taking from her beautiful silken tresses 
a letter, inform General Beaureg-ard that General 
McDowell with 55,000 Federal soldiers was then 
crossing the Potomac River on their "on to Rich- 
mond" march, proudly boasting and loudly pro- 
claiming that they would end the rebellion in sixty 
days by hanging Jefferson Davis and our leaders 
higher than Mordecai hung the infamous Haman. 
"The best laid schemes of men and mice gang- aft 
agley." 

About 9 o'clock the next morning (17th) the head 
of the column of this mighty host appeared about 
two miles distant with countless flag-s flying, glisten- 
ing- bayonets, with many bands renting the air with 
their joyous notes as they died away on the very 
portals of Heaven. The long roll was at once beaten 
by our drummers and we retreated in perfect order 
to our breastworks on Bull Run. 

The next evening (18th) they attacked General 
Longstreet's command on our right wing but were 
quickly repulsed with considerable loss. And thus 
stood matters until the morning of the 21st, which 
was God's Holy Sabbath of rest, and ere the sun 
rose through a cloudless sky, the sweet notes of 



16 REMINISCENCES. 

many a feathered song-ster, from sturdy oaks, piped 
to his loved and brooding- mates, ming-led their 
melodies with the rippling- murmers of Bull Run on 
its clear winding" way to the sea. 

About three miles from where my command was 
awaiting orders stood Sudley Church and Sudley 
Ford, and it was here McDowell crossed Bull Run, 
doubtless believing- he could easily flank our extreme 
left wing-, and thus attack us from both front and 
rear. About 9 o'clock there comes to our ears 
a faint sound, wafted on the g-entle breezes of that 
holy Sabbath morn. Is it the bell of that historic 
old church calling- God's people to worship and there 
hear "Peace on earth, good will to men?" Hark, 
nearer, louder breaks that sound o'er that murmur- 
ing- stream. What is it? 'Tis the cannon's opening- 
roar announcing the advance of the ruthless invader, 
summoning- Southern patriots — who were violators 
of no law known to the Constitution, guilty of no 
crime — to strike for the God-given right of freedom 
and liberty, to "strike for their altars and their 
fires, to strike for the g-reen graves of their sires, 
God and their native land." 

They struck and ere the last ling-ering flush of 
the setting sun had ming-led its brig-ht rays with 
the gorgeous g-lory of the departing- day, Beaureg-ard 
and Johnston with less than half as many men as 
McDowell had most signally defeated and- utterly 
routed McDowell's magnificent troop of 55,000. 



REMINISCENCES. 17 

As the thorougfhbred racer paws the ground 
with nostrils distended and champs the bit eager 
for the word "gfo" to be g-iven, so were we all 
impatient and anxious to g-o to the relief of our 
sorely pressed comrades. My command was two 
miles from where the battle was so terribly rag^ing-. 
About 2 o'clock my reg-iment and Cash's South Caro- 
lina regfiment with our brigade battery of four can- 
non (Kemper's) were ordered into action. We went 
on double quick most of the wa5'' and formed in line 
of battle in an old field under a heavy fire of shot and 
shell. About four hundred yards in front of us was 
a larg-e, thick woodland. (And here pardon a little 
dig-ression. In the fall of 1860 there was a most 
famous volunteer military company in Chicag'o 
known as Elsworth's Zouaves. This company had 
challeng^ed any company in the United States to 
meet them in Memphis, Tenn., in Maj^ 1861, and 
drill for the championship of the Government, and 
the Columbus Guards, of which I was a member, 
had accepted the challeng-e. In the meantime Els- 
worth had recruited his company to a reg-iment of 
1,100 men and taken them to Washing-ton and on 
arrival there showed them a very fine and handsome 
watch, telling them there were 1,100 just as fine in 
the South belonging to them and all they had to do 
was to take them when they went there. A few 
days after this Virginia ratified the ordinance 
of secession and a man named Jackson, hoisted a 



18 REMINISCENCES. 

larg-e secession flag' over his hotel in Alexandria, 
seven miles from Washingfton; the next morningf 
Elsworth with a squad of his reg-iment entered the 
hotel before Jackson had g-otten up, took the flagf 
from its staft" and coming" down the stairway, wav- 
ing- it over his head, said to Jackson who had 
suddenly been awakened by the noise: "See, I have 
a trophy." "Yes," said Jackson, "and I have one 
too," and with a double-barrel shotg^un fired both 
barrels, killings him instantly. Jackson was killed, 
and his body pinned to the floor with bayonets.) 

We were now ordered to move forward into the 
woodland alluded to above where we met Elsworth 's 
Zouaves and of the 1,100 we bag-g^ed 900 in killed, 
wounded and prisoners. We emerg"ed from the 
woods and re-formed in an old road beaten down by 
constant use several feet below the surface; in front 
was an open field extending" several hundred yards 
where the enemy were forming" in heavy columns to 
charg-e our lines, and here I saw the most inspir- 
ing-, soul stirring- sig-ht of my life, for just here 
our battery came at full speed with an old man 
eig-hty years old standing- on a caisson, his long- 
white hair streaming- in the breeze with hat in one 
hand, hig-h above his head, loudly calling- out, "On 
boys, on! On boys, on!" as thoug-h with an inspira- 
tion born of heaven, he fain would say to us now 
is the time to dare, do or die for the rig-ht. Our 
battery was unlimbered immediately in our rear and 



REMINISCENCES. 19 

commenced lirino- over our heads as fast as they could 
load, this g-lorious old hero firing- one of the pieces. 
Did God from His throne ever g-aze with rapture 
on a g-rander, more g-lorious earthly scene? Grand 
old Edmund Ruthn of Virg-inia! He served with this 
battery until the surrender and a very few days 
thereafter wrote these memorable words: "I cannot 
survive the loss of the liberties of my country," and 
with a shotg-un ended his life. 

Just at this critical moment Kirby Smith with 
1,700 fresh troops appeared immediately in the rear 
of this mig-hty host and with the first volley of our 
guns, this grand army in the twinkling- of an eye, 
melted as dew before the morning- sun and soug-ht 
safety in the most ig-nominious flig-ht and utter rout 
that ever occurred in the world. 

Several hundred yards from where we now were 
was the celebrated Henry house, around which was 
Rickett's battery of six pieces, firing- into our own 
ranks as fast as they could load. This battery was 
known and celebrated in our war with Mexico as 
Sherman's Flying- Artillery, and had been captured 
and recaptured several times during- the day. We 
now captured it ag-ain and manning- it with g-unners, 
fired in rapid succession as long- as the routed army 
was in rang-e, and then followed in rapid pursuit, 
many dead and wounded of both armies covering- the 
g-round. And here I literally obeyed the Bible where 
it says: ''If thine enemy thirst, g-ive him drink." 



20 REMINISCENCES. 

In stepping- over a wounded Federal, he said, 
"Friend, for God's sake g^ive me some water." 
Friend — yes, we are all friends in the presence of 
death. I handed him my canteen and the sweet smile 
and "God bless you" with which he received it more 
than repaid me for all the thirst I suffered before I 
g-ot any more water. Who knows but what the 
recording" angfel in heaven entered that one pint of 
water to my credit as an offset to some of my many 
misdeeds both before and since that historic day. 

We crossed Bull Run on Stone Bridg-e and captured 
manj^ more prisoners, among them Hon. Alfred Ely, 
member of Cong^ress from New York, who claimed 
his liberty on the plea that he was a non-combatant 
and a mere "looker-on in Venice" as it were. The 
last I heard of him he was a real looker-in in 
Libby Prison at Richmond, catching- rats for a 
decent honest living instead of faring sumptuously 
every day as an honorable M. C. in Washing-ton. 

We had advanced four miles from Stone Bridg-e 
and were within four hundred yards of Cub Run, a 
small stream spanned by a bridg-e about fifty feet 
above the water, the banks almost perpendicular. 
The bridge was so completely blocked by cannon, 
wagons and vehicles of many kinds that a jay bird 
would have needed his spectacles to find his wa}'^ 
throug-h and here were many thousand unable to gfet 
on "the other side of Jordan," who would have 
doubtless within a few minutes surrendered to the 



REMINISCENCES. 21 

sweet music of our battery firing" rapid salutes 
among- their ranks reminding- them that we were 
still very much in love with them — grand, glorious 
Edmund Ruffin still tiring- his g-un with the same 
accuracy and sweet satisfaction as with which his 
unerring- aim brought the squirrel to his game bag 
from sturdy oaks in his boyhood days — but just at 
this moment sounded the death-knell of the Southern 
Confederacy and we received a peremptory order 
from General Beauregard to return to Stone Bridge. 
Had he been where we were and had he known what 
we knew he never would have issued the order that 
robbed us of the fruits of a most g-lorious victory. 
I shall believe until I die that if that order had not 
been issued our g-lorious battle flag's would have 
floated to the propitious breezes of heaven in Wash- 
ington City within less than twenty -four hours, 
which would have established beyond a doubt the 
independence of the Southern Confederacy. 

When we were about faced and started back I was 
so mad that but for a quart bottle of the best and 
tinest champagne I ever tasted before or since, that 
I borrowed from the baggfag'e wagon of Governor 
Sprague of Rhode Island (every drop of which I 
drank to his g-ood health), I believe that I would 
actually have blown up with spontaneous com- 
bustion. 

We returned to Stone Bridge and other portions 
of the battlefield and had captured approximately 



22 REMINISCENCES. 

in killed, wounded and prisoners 5,000, twenty-eig"ht 
cannon with caissons, 100 fine artillery horses, 
thousands of small arms, many stands of colors and 
many hundreds of wag^ons loaded with ammunition, 
army supplies and luxuries in larg-e quantities. A 
grood da^^'s work and merited rebuke to the fanatics 
of the North (whose ancestors in the early history 
burned innocent, helpless women at the stake for 
being- witches and severely punished husbands and 
fathers for kissing" their wives and children on 
Sunday) who left their homes and came into our 
country with a sword in one hand and a torch in the 
other, with which to give the benig-hted heathen of 
the South their first Sunday school lesson on 
Northern civilization and Christianity; and thus 
ended on the battlefield of Manassas, Virg-inia, Ju^y 
21, 1861, McDowell's first and last sermon in Dixie 
from the text "Peace on earth, good will to men." 
That nig-ht I was detailed to guard prisoners. I 
was relieved at one o'clock, and with my cartridg-e 
box for my pillow, the broad bosom of nature for 
a couch and the blue canopy of heaven for a 
shelter, I retired for rest and sleep, and as my head 
touched my downy pillow, fond memory recalled to 
mind the soldier's beautiful dream: 



'Our bugles sang truce aud the night-clouds had lowered 
And the sentinel stars set their watch In the sky, 

And thousands had sunk on the ground over-powered— 
The weary to sleep and the wounded to die." 



REMINISCENCES. 23 

Sometime during- the nig-ht the very flood g-ates of 
the clouds widely opened and let fall a great torrent 
as it were of bitter, blinding-, scalding- tears, with 
which thej'^ fain would wash away the g-reat pools of 
innocent Southern blood that crimsoned the sod of 
this historic battlefield. When I awoke in the 
morning- I was in a gfreat puddle of water as wet as 
if I had spent the nig-ht in the murmuring- waters of 
Bull Run and I had never known when it beg-an to 
rain or when it ceased, and if this is not a fact then 
I am the bigg-est liar south of Boston where they 
keep the days of the week with codfish, Irish 
potatoes and baked beans. 

When the Federal Army reached Washington, some 
one said to an Irish soldier, "Well Pat, you had to 
run from the Rebels." "Yes," says Pat, "and them 
that didn't run are there till yet." 

"And now," continued Pat, "let me tell you about 
that little Sunday School frolic: We had the Rebels 
badly whipped all day but they were such fool fight- 
ers they didn't have the sense to know when they 
were whipped and toward the shade of the evening:, 
when General McDowell was just about to telegraph a 
g-lorious victory with the capture of the Rebel Army, 
Kirby Smith with more fresh troops than Carter ever 
had oats (and you know he had so many he had to haul 
a part of them from the field to find ground to shock 
them) dropped down from the verj^ clouds all over 
us, shooting- to beat the band and every one of us de- 



24 REMINISCENCES. 

cided immediately that we had more important busi- 
ness in Washing"ton than we had in Dixie and so we 
started at once and pretty soon General McDowell 
on his black horse, white with foam, overtook me 
crying- out at the top of his voice: 'A liorse, a horse, 
my kingfdom for a horse! ' And the one he was on was 
running- so fast he looked like a shoe string, but I 
kept up with him and he says: 'Pat, what are j^-ou 
running for?' And I answered, 'Because I haven't 
got wings to fly.' And says I: 'General, what are 
you running- for?' And says he: 'I am running so I 
can g-et to Washington and tell the President the 
Rebels have g-iven us hell and a heap of it.' And 
pretty soon I overtook General John Pope, who had 
teleg-raphed to Washington that his headquarters 
were in the saddle and he had been able to see only the 
backs of the Rebels and his horse had flung- him sky 
hig-h out of his headquarters, but the centre of gravity 
broug-ht him back to the earth and there he was, and 
says he: 'Pat, what are you running- for?' And says I: 
'I'm running because I haven't got time to walk,' and 
says I, 'General, what are you running" for?' and says 
he: 'Pat, I'm running- to keep the Rebels from seeing 
my face,' and with that broke out crying- like his 
heart would break. And says I: 'General Pope, I 
wouldn't sit there and cry like a baby.' Says he: 
'Pat, God knows I wish I was a baby, and a sweet 
little old gal baby at that, ' and we kept a running 
and the further we went the faster we ran, and before 



REMINISCENCES. 25 

we g-ot to Washing-ton we were running' so fast that 
the telegraph poles looked like a line tooth comb." 

Which reminds me that a short time before the fall 
of Richmond a Confederate prisoner was carried to 
Grant's headquarters to be pumped for information. 
After applying- the pumping- process to its full 
capacity, Grant dismissed him by telling- him he was 
such an infernal fool know-nothing- that he couldn't 
tell a skinned elephant from a picked jay bird, to 
which the prisoner replied: "General Grant, you've 
asked me a whole lot of questions; may I ask you 
one?" "Certainly," says Grant, "fire away." 

"General Grant, where are j^ou g-oing- anyhow?" 
And Grant replied, "I may g-o to Richmond, I may 
g-o to Petersburg-, I may g-o to Heaven or I may g-o 
to hell." To which he retorted, "General Grant, you 
can't g-o to Richmond for General Lee is there; you 
can't g-o to Petersburg- for General Beaureg-ard is 
there and you know mig-hty well you can't g-o to 
Heaven for Stonewall Jackson is there, but as for 
g-oing- to hell we aint g-ot no men defending- it, and 
I'll bet you my head to a Jews-harp that you and your 
whole army can march in without firing- a g-un and 
receive a warm welcome for the devil is needing- 
recruits of your sort." 

In a few days we moved forward to Fairfax Court- 
house, and apart from dail}^ drilling- and picket duty 
our lives were, according- to Grover Cleveland "lives 
of innocuous desuetude." 



26 REMINISCENCES. 

In October we were on picket a few days at 
Munsen's Hill a few miles south and plainly in view 
of Wasliing"ton City and here I was transferred to 
my old company, the Columbus Guards. I never saw 
my South Carolina company agfain until a few days 
before General Johnston's surrender and of the 114 
comrades I left, there were three lone survivors. 

In September 1861, my regfiment (the Second 
South Carolina) of 1,100 was reconnoitering- near 
Vienna, Va., south of Washingfton City. We were 
moving- in line of battle near a thick woodland and 
struck an old field which extended several hundred 
yards in front of us. On the line marking" the field 
and woodland stood a solid oak g^ate post about two 
feet square. Just then a masked battery told us we 
had treed something and we were ordered to lie 
down. One man (Stubbs) dropped behind the post. 
The next shot came from a rifled cannon, the ball 
striking the post just above the surface of the 
g"round and tore the body of Stubbs into frag"- 
ments. Strangfe indeed it was that he alone of 1, 100 
men had protection and was the only one injured. 
A mile or so from there, we reached Vienna, on the 
railroad, just in time with one cannon to fire into a 
passing- train loaded with soldiers. Many jumped 
from the cars and those not killed were captured. 



CHAPTER III 



A T Centre ville, Va., in 1861, not long- after being- 
^~^ transferred to the Columbus Guards from Ker- 
shaw's Second South Carolina Reg-iment on my return 
to camp after a short absence, Dick Potter, orderly 
serg-eant, told me I had missed a detail on duty. I 
asked for what. He replied, to cut and haul wood 
to Colonel Semmes ' headquarters . I told him I would 
never serve on any such detail; that Colonel 
Semmes had no rigfht or law to call for such a de- 
tail. John Lindsay was present and heard what I 
said. A few days afterwards he was detailed for 
the same purpose. He peremptorily refused to serve, 
was immediately arrested and carried to Colonel 
Semmes, who asked him where he g-ot his authority 
to refuse to do duty when detailed. He replied, Bob 
Howard. The Colonel sent a file of soldiers with 
fixed bayonets who marched me over to the aug-ust 
presence of this czar of the Second Georgfia Reg-i- 
ment. On reaching- him he said, "The next thing- you 
know, I'll have you shot for sedition and insubordi- 
nation." He asked me by what authority I advised 
John Lindsay not to cut and haul wood to his tent. 
Asking- him for the Articles of War, I read, "No 
private soldier shall be detailed or required to do 



28 REMINISCENCES. 

any menial service for an officer." I then said to him 
I was there to fig"ht for mj^ inalienable rights and 
that I would tig"ht him as quick as I would Abe 
Lincoln. There was never another detail made to 
cut and haul wood to Colonel Semmes. 

In the trenches at Yorktown, Va., in April 1862, 
John Lindsay grave the first blood that was shed from 
Columbus in the war. I was sitting" immediately by 
him when he was shot througfh both legs and we were 
almost immediately ordered to leave the trench we 
were in, it being- untenable. We retired at once and as 
we laid John on the ground he said to me that he left 
his knapsack in the trench, that he cared nothing for 
anything- in it except a Bible given him by his 
mother. I told him I would gfet it and from the time 
I g-ot in rang-e of the sharp-shooters from whose fire 
we had just retired until I got out of the rang-e 
again many shots were fired; but then as throughout 
the entire war a merciful God ever shielded my de- 
fenceless head. On the fly-leaf of that Bible were 
about these words: "A mother's g-ift; remember, boy, 
it is no idle toy." I think his daug-hter, Mrs. G. Y. 
Tigner of Columbus, Ga., has that Bible to-day. In 
February 1865 General Lee issued an order giving- a 
furlough to two soldiers of every reg-iment of his army 
who had been distinguished for marked gallantry and 
dauntless courage in front of the enemy. John 
Lindsay was given one of these furloughs. On 
reaching home he found a beautiful baby daughter 



REMINISCENCES. 29 

he had never seen. The lirst time he came into the 
city the provost gfuard asked to see his papers. He 
refused. Colonel Von Zinken, commandant of post, 
ordered the gfuard to arrest him and bring- him to 
his headquarters, dead or alive. The next day John 
was in town on a horse on Broad Street. The gfuard 
ag-ain hailed him and when he reached the corner 
west of the Racine Hotel the gfuard reached the 
southeast corner of Broad and Thirteenth Streets 
fired, and he dropped from his horse dead. Dr. 
Colzey immediately informed his father. His 
brother, Cooper Lindsay, and I were at home on 
furlougfh. We mounted horses and rode at the 
top of their speed. On reaching^ Von Zinken 's 
headquarters we found Broad Street packed from 
Twelfth to Thirteeth Streets. A larg-e body of 
Wheeler's Cavalry was in the city en route to 
Johnston's army in North Carolina; many shouting- 
''Hang- him! hangf him!" Cooper and I rushed into 
Von Zinken 's office, seized him, and sent a soldier 
for a rope. Just at this moment Mr. Lindsay, the 
father, entered and said, "Don't harm him; 
'Veng-eance is mine; I will repay, saith the 
Lord.' " We released him, and from that day 
till now I have ever been gflad that the father en- 
tered when he did. Von Zinken was too brave a 
man to have been hung- under such circumstances. 
No more g-enerous, true, loving- man ever lived; 
no more fearless, courageous soldier ever drew 



30 REMINISCENCES. 

glittering- blade in any age or clime, than John B. 
Lindsay. "None knew him but to love him, none 
spoke of him but to praise." 



Early in 1861, Cooper Lindsay (a brother of my 
wife) in his teens, joined the Tenth Mississippi 
Reg-iment at Pensacola, Fla. He was soon made 
color-bearer of the regiment. More than once he was 
wounded with his flag waving high overhead. In 
the terrible battle of Franklin, Tenn., November 
30, 1864, he was again shot down. A comrade said, 
"Poor Lindsay, he has gone at last," to which this 
glorious soldier promptly replied, "You are a damn 
liar, give 'em hell boys!" On recovering from a 
wound on the eve of returning to his command, he was 
asked by his father if he needed some money, he 
replied that a soldier getting $13.00 per month, his 
clothes and rations, had no use for money. I never 
met him after he joined the army until the battle of 
Perryville, Ky., October 7, 1862. He had drawn to 
a bob- tail flush, filled, and had more than $1,000.00 
in his pocket; he gave me $500.00 to keep for him. 
The next time I saw him he was dead broke and I 
staked him. He swam the Chattahoochee River on 
his horse three times the day Wilson's raiders reached 
Columbus. The day the raiders left Columbus (Gen- 
eral Wilson in Jim Cook's fine carriage) Cooper and 
a few others, followed the raiders. Near Waverly 
Hall they overtook a Yankee captain from Ohio, 



REMINISCENCES. 31 

two white and two negro soldiers robbing" the house 
of Congressman Sing-leton, of Mississippi, whose 
family had refugeed to Georg-ia. The Yanks hur- 
riedly mounted their horses and rode ofE at break- 
neck speed. Cooper soon overtook the captain and 
with one blow from his sabre broke his neck; the 
others surrendered. The party started back to 
Columbus. On reaching- a swamp about eig^ht miles 
east of the city, the two whites died very suddenly 
from an overdose of lead. In the swamp of what is 
now known as Wildwood Park, the nig-gers collapsed 
and died from an internal dose of blue whistlers. 
They had several fine watches, for which all sa.ve 
one, the boys found the owners. 

In February 1866, about where now stands Chan- 
cellor's store. Cooper shot and killed a neg^ro soldier. 
A white lieutenant with a squad of nig-gers pur- 
sued and captured him at the Central Railroad. Bj^ 
the time they reached the Third National Bank, a 
crowd of at least 1,000 had assembled and fearless 
old Bob Sheridan with a navy six in one hand and 
his watch in the other said to the lieutenant, "I'll 
give you just thirty seconds to turn Lindsay loose;" 
upon which the lieutenant said, "Go, Lindsay, g-o! 
God knows I've g^ot no use for you." He was 
mounted on the first horse in sig^ht and came im- 
mediately to my home and spent the night there. 
That evening" about dark, Major Warner, an ordi- 
nance officer and an excellent man, was killed by 



32 REMINISCENCES. 

some of the nig'g'er gfarrison quartered in what was 
then known as the Banks Building- on the east side 
of Broad Street, tlie Major passing- on the west side. 
But for tlie pleading- of many of the older and 
influential citizens of the city, the entire g'arrison 
would have been annihilated that nig-ht. In a very 
few daj^s this g-arrison was removed. Two daj^s 
after the killing- of the nig-ger soldier, Mr. Lindsay 
g-ave Cooper $1,165.00 and mounted on the same fine 
horse owned the year previous, he left just after 
supper for Texas. A few days after he left, the 
United States Government offered a reward of 
$2,000 for him. In June 1866, President Johnson 
issued a g^eneral proclamation that in all cases where 
crime was charg-ed ag-ainst anyone in the South, the 
military authorities should have no jurisdiction pro- 
vided the civil law took cog-nizance of the crime 
charg-ed. I wrote to Cooper to come home. The 
day he arrived here I had him arrested under a 
warrant charg-ed with murder; he was arraig-ned 
before a mag-istrate who assessed a bond of $5,000.00 
with approved security for his appearance before 
the Grand Jur3^ of the first Superior Court to meet 
thereafter. The bond was made and approved and 
should you ask me whether or not the Grand Jury 
took any action in the matter, I would emphatically 
answer "Damfino, and care less." 



CHAPTER IV. 



r\^ March 8, 1862, we left winter quarters at 
^^ Centreville, Va., under General Johnston in 
command and went to Yorktown and went into the 
trenches several hundred yards in front of which 
was the Federal line of entrenchments, and if ever a 
head or hand on either side appeared above the 
breastworks a shot would be fired at it, the canon- 
ading- from Federal batteries was at times terrific, 
particularly at nig-ht, but I soon became so accus- 
tomed to it that it did not disturb my sweet slumbers 
any more than the buzzing- of the g-nat. 

On one side of us was the York River; on the 
other the James, in each of which were Federal war 
vessels, the distance between the two rivers being- 
seven miles. We remained in this position and 
under these circumstances for more than a month, 
and on the nig-ht of May 4th we withdrew. The 
withdrawal of General Johnston from General 
McClellan's front with such g-reat odds ag-ainst him 
was a gfreat and grand feat of strateg-y and g-eneral- 
ship. McClellan's army, in g-reat numbers, followed 
in pursuit and vig-orously attacked us at Williams- 
burg- on the evening- of May 5th, but was repulsed 
with a g-reater loss than we had; his loss in killed. 



S4 REMINISCENCES. 

wounded and prisoners amounting- to more ttian a 
thousand besides several cannons. 

We continued our advance towards Richmond with 
little more interruption and loss. 

On the evening^ of May the 31st, on the lines of the 
Chickahominy River at Seven Pines, seven miles from 
Richmond, Johnston in g-reat numbers most vigor- 
ously attacked McClellan (who had great odds in his 
favor) all along the lines. The battle rag-ed with 
terrific fury and destruction on both sides and niofht 
closed the bloody contest. Just about dark, General 
Johnston was very severely wounded in two places 
and was borne from the field and but for that it was 
said and believed that McClellan 's army would have 
been annihilated and captured. The next morning 
the battle was renewed with unabated fury and 
destruction on both sides and when it closed victory 
perched upon our banners and we held the battlefield. 

The next morningf our matchless Robert E. Lee 
took command of the Army of Northern Virg-inia. 

On the 24th of June, 1862, thirteen of the 
Columbus Guards (of which I was one) were 
transferred to the Nelson Rang-ers (T. M. Nelson, 
captain) an independent cavalry company acting" as 
escort and couriers to General Kirby Smith 
commanding- the Department of East Tennessee, 
We left Richmond on the evening of the above date 
and came home to mount and soon reported to 
Captain Nelson at Knoxville, Tenn. 



REMINISCENCES. 35 

On the 31st of Aug-ust we sigfnally defeated the 
Federal Army at Richmond, Ky., killing-, wounding- 
and capturing- more than 9,000, a g-reater number 
than our force numbered. At 9 o'clock on the nig-ht 
of September 3rd, twenty of my company and ten of 
another were ordered to burn some railroad bridg-es 
between Lexing-ton and Frankfort. We were in the 
saddle all nig-ht and at 7 o'clock in the morning- we 
had not reached the bridg-es and very unexpectedly 
found the rear g-uard of the Federal Army and with 
low-down cunningf and deep chicanery we captured 
the whole business, 122 infantry and 58 cavalry, 
without firing- a g-un. We marched into Lexing-ton 
at 9 o'clock with our prize and received the g-randest 
ovation I ever saw from any people during- the war. 
We were literally pulled from our saddles and 
carried into eleg^ant homes and wined and dined 
until we fain would have had our bread-baskets 
made out of India rubber so that they could be 
distended to take in more and more of the luxuries 
and delicacies both liquid and solid. The first 
house I entered was the Todd mansion (owned by a 
man named Sheppard) in which Abe Lincoln was 
married. Mrs. Lincoln at that time had one, if 
not two, brothers in our army. I ate seven fair, 
square meals before retiring- that nig-ht and haven't 
had a g-enuine case of hung-er since. We remained 
here about a month and I did not draw a ration 
from our commissary while there and many of the 



36 REMINISCENCES. 

boys were in the same deligfhtful condition — at 
peace with the whole world, as Bill Arp used to 
say, except some. 

We now leave Kentucky and reach Knoxville, 
Tenn., without any stirring" events — the latter part 
of October and two days thereafter I was ordered to 
Columbus, Ga., on some gfovernment business, with 
a week's furloug"h, when and where the winsome 
sweetheart of my boyhood became the beautiful, 
fascinating bride of my early manhood, the devoted 
wife of the best years of my life. I married at 11 
o'clock in the morning- of November 3rd, and took a 
train at 2 p. m., the same day for Knoxville, and 
within the limit of my furloug^h arrived there and at 
once informed the boys that I was a married man 
and they immediately org-anized a court martial and 
the charge preferred against me was ' 'that any soldier 
that would go home and marry and leave a sweet, 
beautiful bride at home was too big- a fool to live 
and oug-ht to be shot the next morning- at sunrise. ' ' I 
demurred to the indictment and went to trial 
without a witness, earnestly pleading- that he who 
worshipped at the shrine of duty could never g-o 
wrong-; that he who doubted at her call was a 
dastard and that he who failed to obey her hig-h 
behests through fear of consequences was an arrant 
coward and should be forever damned. After much 
discussion of the court to combat the logic and 
force of my arg-ument the court unanimously 



REMINISCENCES. 37 

decided that it would nol-pros the case provided 
I would set it up to a g"allon of g"Ood, red liquor, 
which I accepted in final judgement , and when they 
drained the jug- to the very last drop refused to let 
me smell even the empty jug-. 

In March 1863, General Kirby Smith was ordered 
to take command of the Trans-Mississippi Depart- 
ment. He left at once and the company followed 
soon after, but the Mississippi River was so closely 
g-uarded by the Federals that the company could 
never cross the river and was soon assig-ned to 
General Stephen D. Lee in the same relation it had 
been to Kirby Smith. 



CHAPTER V. 



/^N the nig-ht of May 5, 1862, after the battle of 
^^ Williamsburg-, Va., an officer rode into our 
camp and asked where General Benning- was: "In 
that fence corner asleep," some one replied. "You 
are a damn liar," roared the old lion: "I am never 
asleep when there is anything- to do. What is it?" 
In a battle in Virg-inia General Benning- was ordered 
to reinforce General Anderson. Meeting- numbers of 
Anderson's wounded before g-etting- into action one 
of the wounded said to him: "Hurry up, 'Rock. 
Tig-e's treed." In the battle of Chickamaug-a he had 
two horses killed under him and just then his brig-ade 
captured a Federal battery. He mounted an artillery 
horse bare-back and thus rode until the battle ended. 
In the battle of Sharpsburgf his brig-ade, on our 
extreme rig-ht wing- at a bridgfe spanning- the Antie- 
tam River, held at bay an entire Federal army corps 
for twelve hours. His achievement in arms was as 
brilliant as ever blazoned a warrior's crest or 
adorned a nation's story. He was a friend without 
treachery, a soldier without cruelty. He was a 
private citizen without wrong-, a neig-hbor without 
reproach, and a man without g-uile. He was as sub- 
missive to law as Socrates, as gfrand in battle as 
Achilles, and as just with his fellowman as Aristi- 



REMINISCENCES. 89 

des, and died meriting" tliose grand, beautiful words: 
"An honest man is the noblest work of God." 

In the early twilig:ht of a January evening-, 1863, 
Dock Jones (one of my company) and I stopped at a 
farm house in Hawkins County, East Tennessee, 
where we were entertained until the next morning-. 
At supper our host, Mr. Young-, asked our names. I 
answered, Howard and Jones from Columbus, Ga., 
upon which the daug-hter inquired, "Do you know 
Kate Lindsay?" and I answered, "I certainly do; 
she is my wife." She hug-g^ed and kissed me as 
thoug-h I were a long- absent brother. She and my 
wife had been loving- friends and class-mates at a 
nearby female colleg-e in Rog-ersville. 

Later in the same month my company was or- 
dered to report at Greeneville, Tenn., to Colonel 
Allen of a North Carolina reg-iment. We went into 
the mountains of Western North Carolina to kill or 
capture a number of desperate bushwhackers who 
plundered the home of Colonel Allen. They even 
took the clothing- and shoes and stocking-s from the 
bodies and feet of the mother and children. Two of 
the children died within a few days. We captured 
thirteen and returned to GreeneAdlle, and about a 
mile from where we started we were ordered to halt, 
and here I witnessed the saddest scene I saw during- 
the war. One of the prisoners was a boy only four- 
teen years old. I made a strong- appeal to Colonel 
Allen to spare the boy. His reply was, "Shoot him, 



40 REMINISCENCES. 

he can pull a trig'gfer as strong" as any of them," and 
with one volley their last and reddest blood crim- 
soned the sod of that weird scene. And this was 
war. One man kills another man; the State hangs 
him as a malefactor. "The king- who can do no 
wrong-," slays his countless thousands, and the 
world crowns him a grand, glorious hero. And here 
I recall to mind one stanza of a catchy little song of 
my school-boy days written by a French peasant girl 
whose sweetheart had been conscripted into the army: 

"If I were King of France or, still better, Pope of Rome, 
I'd have no fighting men abroad, no weeping maids at home; 
All the world should be at peace, or if lilngs must show 

their might, 
Let those who make the quarrel be the only ones to 
fight." 

Dock Jones, Judge Banks and Frank Ellis found 
on the battlefield of Richmond, Ky., the carpet-bag 
of a sutler of an Ohio regiment containing $3,000.00 
in greenbacks. Dock gave me $300.00. On reach- 
ing Lexington with the captured rear guard of the 
Federal Army that had evacuated Lexington the 
night before, I gave a Federal officer ten dollars 
for his overcoat, and five dollars each to two others 
to help them on their way home, telling them if I 
ever caught them again I'd give them bullets instead 
of dollars. Each gave me his name and home ad- 
dress, telling me that if I ever landed in a Yankee 
prison to write to them, and I should never suffer 
for anything. One of them prevailed on me to 



REMINISCENCES. 41 

accept a g^ood. silver watch. "One touch of na- 
ture makes the whole world kin." I here paid a 
jeweler (Clark by name) fifty dollars for a beautiful 
opal ring- for my winsome prisoner at home whom 
I had paroled on honor that she would never take 
up arms against me in favor of any man or 
being- on earth, and as true as the needle is to 
the pole, so true was she to her plig-hted faith. 
Mj^ oldest grand-daugfhter, Catharine, is the proud 
owner of the ring- above alluded to. 

When I was at Spartanburg-, S. C, en route to join 
Johnston's army, I spent the nig-ht at the home of 
Mrs. Mary Alef Smith, the aunt of my sometime 
fiancee, and for whose name, Alef, she was called. 
This aunt of hers had, to my knowledg-e, the beau- 
tiful ambrotype which, on the breakings of our en- 
g-ag-ement, my beloved had taken from me and g-iven 
to her. I offered a faithful colored woman servant 
of hers, Lide, one hundred dollars to steal this am- 
brotype from my hostess for me, but she refused to 
do so. I g-ave her ten dollars, however, as a reward 
for her faithfulness and honesty. This beautiful 
ambrotype of the once bright lig-ht of my life I wore 
as a sweet, cherished amulet next to my heart both 
day and nig-ht from July 1862, until the war ended, 
and many a time since her death when g-azing on 
this picture a flood of sweet, tender memories forces 
a flow of tears that dim the features of the beauti- 
ful face before me. 



42 REMINISCENCES. 

"All day like some sweet bird content to sing 
In Us small cage, she moveth to and fro, 
And ever and anon will upward spring 
To her sweet lips, fresh from the fount below, 
The murmer'd melody of pleasant thought, 
Light household duties, evermore Inwrought 
With pleasant fancies of one trusting heart, 
That lives but in her smile, and ever turns 
To be refreshed, where one pure altar burns. 
Shut out from hence the mockery of life; 
Thus liveth she, content, the meek, fond, trusting wife." 

The Seven Days' Battles around Richmond com- 
menced on the evening: of June 26, 1862, at Mechanics- 
ville. Some distance in the rear, McClellan with 
his staff and ranking- officers, was discussing- the 
result of the battle, some one saying-: "We have got 
Lee at last; we will capture his army and enter 
Richmond; Stonewall Jackson is in the Shenandoah 
Valley and cannot reach Lee in time to save him 
and Richmond." "The wish was father to the 
thoug-ht." Hark! there comes a sound, a deep 
sound, wafted on the breezes of that eventful even- 
ing-, carrying- dismay and consternation to the 
mig-hty contending- hosts in front. What is it? 'Tis 
the cannon's opening- roar from g-rand, g-lorious 
Stonewall Jackson, saying- to McClellan in thunder 
tones: "I have come as your unbidden g-uest to 
welcome you with hospitable hands to bloody 
g-raves." 

"Oh, that nig-ht or Blucher would come!" ex- 
claimed Welling-ton in the great battle of Waterloo, 



REMINISCENCES. 43 

June 18, 1815, when victory trembled in the balance 
as Napoleon's Imperial Guard, time and ag^ain, 
hurled back in confusion and defeat the migfhty 
onslaug-ht of Welling-fon's fearless and intrepid 
troops. Well may Fig'hting- Joe Hooker have 
exclaimed at the battle of Chancellors ville, Va., 
May 3, 1862, with his "Finest Army on the Planet" 
of 92,000 well equipped Federal soldiers, confronted 
by the matchless Lee with 14,000 of his unterrified, 
unwhipped braves and the immortal Stonewall 
Jackson with his "webfoot cavalry" in his rear. 
"O! that I had the wing's of a dove to fly away and 
be at rest from this ever present, aveng-ing- Nemesis 
with her death-grip gfnawing- at my very vitals." 

The day that I left Richmond in June 1862, for 
Columbus, I met a class-mate I left at Marietta 
in July 1853 (T. C. Johnson, of Palmetto, Georg-ia, 
Lieutenant Colonel of the Nineteenth Georg-ia Reg-i- 
ment). His wife was with him. She had been wait- 
ing- several days to meet some friend g-oing- South 
with whom she could return to her home (her 
husband informing- me that a friend would meet our 
train on its arrival at Macon) . Of course I was g-lad 
to talie charg-e of her. On being- seated with her I 
noticed at once that she was very dejected, and in 
tears she said to me that she had a presentiment that 
she would never see her husband ag-ain. I did my 
utmost to disabuse her troubled mind of such g-loomy 
foreboding-s, but all to no avail. After a long: and 



44 REMINISCENCES. 

tedious trip we arrived at Macon in the nig-ht and 
the expected friend met us in the car with a tele- 
gram informing- her that her husband had been 
killed in battle that evening". That was one of the 
saddest, most heartrending- scenes I witnessed 
during- the war. 

The battle of Richmond, Ky. (Aug-ust 31, 1862), 
was an all-day running- fig-ht, ending- among- the 
monuments and tombstones in the cemetery of Rich- 
mond. During- the day I saw a Federal surg-eon 
take from the pocket of a Federal whose brains 
were flowing- from a mortal wound and the death- 
rattle in his throat rapidly announcing- the end, a 
letter about as follows: 

"Big Hill, Ky., Aug. 31, 1862. 
7 o'clock A.M. 
My dear wife: 

The Rebels are coming' and we will have a 
battle to-day and I have a presentiment I will be killed. 
1 mail with this 820.00. God bless you and the children." 

I have forg-otten the name sig-ned. The surg-eon 
offered me the $20.00 bill, saying-; "I presume you 
claim this." "By no means," I replied, "What 
must I do with it?" he asked. I replied: "Mail it 
to the poor fellow's wife." I'll bet a dollar to a 
notch on a jay bird's tail that the wife never g-ot the 
letter, and if she did that $20.00 bill was very con- 
spicuous for its entire absence. 

At one of the many places where the Yankees 
made a stand and scattered like a covey of flushed 



REMINISCENCES. 45 

birds from the first volley of our cannon and double- 
barrel shotg-uns, Parson Owens, Andrew Weems 
and I made a dash to capture quite a number of 
Yanks who just crossed the crest of a hill. As we 
turned the crest, a regfiment of cavalry not more 
than fifty yards in front of us, behind a fence in a 
thick woodland fired upon us a volley that sounded 
like it came from thousands of guns. Knowing- that 
we could not surround them in that thicket and 
demand a surrender, we at once decided we had 
some important business on the other side of the 
hill, which we executed by riding- at breakneck 
speed to a large two story brick farm house about 
four hundred yards from where we recrossed the 
hill, and here we captured forty-seven Yanks fully 
armed and equipped with their weapons of death 
and destruction. They were badly sheared and would 
have giadly surrendered to a cock robin or jenny 
wren. "O, that my enemy would write a book," and 
try to prove me a liar. 

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, 
The eternal years of God are hers, 
But error wounded writhes in pain, 
And dies among its worshippers."' 

In the summer of 1861, Dud Gary and I dined with 
a farmer in Sumter County, Ala. He asked our 
names and where we were from. I answered: "My 
name is Howard and this is Gary — both from Co- 
lumbus, Ga.;" to which he replied: "My name is 



46 REMINISCENCES. 

Vivian and I am a first cousin of your father and of 
his mother." We had an eleg-ant dinner and he 
filled our haversacks to their utmost capacity with 
many substantials and delicacies. When we went 
to the barn to saddle up, Vivian told Dud that as 
his horse was pretty well fag-g-ed out he had better 
leave him there to recruit up and mount one of 
several fine mules he had, and it would make no 
difference if he never returned the mule. Dud g-ladly 
made the exchang-e. Whenever he was detailed for 
courier duty he successfully played old soldier by 
claiming- that his mule was lame. The boys g-uyed 
him a g^ood deal by telling- him that he had stolen a 
mule that could outrun any horse in the company. 

On the night of December 16, 1864, when Hood's 
army was utterly routed in the battle of Nashville, a 
reg-iment of Yankee cavalry dashed into the rear of 
our company and at once there was a g-eneral mix 
up of both friends and foe. The next morning-, Hub 
Walker, a g-allant, fearless soldier, a unique Sui 
Generis amused the boj^s very much as he told the 
tale of Dud's woe of the nigfht before about as 
follows: "Gentlemen, it was a rupturous and terri- 
ble nig-ht and a scandalous shame the way the damn 
Yankees beat up old man Dud Gary on his bald head 
with their sabres, and everj^ lick they hit him he'd 
holler, 'I surrender, I'm already wounded,' and 
g-entlemen, old Dud's lame mule with his head up 
and his tail in the bushes sure did outrun everythingf 



REMINISCENCES. 47 

on the pike." In the fall of 1865 Dud went with the 
wife of his brother Joe to vi*sit some relatives in 
Columbus, Miss. A few days after reaching- there a 
policeman met him on the street and showed him the 
cut of a stolen mule, offering- a reward for the mule 
and thief. Without seeing- his sister or anyone else 
he left immediately on foot and tramped the entire 
distance until he reached my home on the Talbotton 
Road about twilig-ht one evening-. I asked him what 
was the matter. He replied, "I came from Columbus, 
Miss., to keep a damn policeman from arresting- me 
for stealing- Vivian's mule, and you know I didn't 
steal that mule." I never saw before or since a 
more typical tramp; seven years later he appeared 
at my home ag-ain under the same mental halluci- 
nation. 

The morning- after General Hood's crushing- defeat 
at Nashville General Clayton's division covered our 
rear. Just before reaching- Franklin, he formed in 
line of battle on both sides of the pike with one 
cannon on each side. There was an excavation 
throug-h the hill from two to three hundred yards 
long- and about twenty feet deep, and into this 
death-trap soon rode a reg'iment of Federal cavalry 
at full speed. An instantaneous volley from both 
sides of the pike emptied many saddles. The entire 
command surrendered at once; upon which Bill 
Ferg-uson, of our company, rushed in among- them 
a-nd had just unbuckled the belt of a Yankee captain 



48 REMINISCENCES. 

and taken from him two fine navy sixes. Just then 
a cannon shot the captain's head off; a just retri- 
bution for being- a busy-body and meddlingf with 
other people's business. 

Just after passings Franklin our rear was ag"ain 
attacked by a very larg-e force and here our g-rand 
old hero, fig-hting- like a lion aroused from his lair, 
actually saved the remnant of Hood's once g"rand 
and invincible army from capture. Marshall Ney, 
"the bravest of the brave" of Napoleon's mighty 
host, never fought against gfreater odds or with more 
conspicuous g-allantry and courage than did this 
Christian soldier as he dared to do all that a true 
patriot could do for his bleeding- country. Grand, 
g-lorious old Henry D. Clayton, true to his God, true 
to his country, true to his fellowman! He was an 
incorruptible public official; a private citizen in 
whose spirit there was neither gruile nor hypocrisy- 
His spotless life and blameless record will ever be a 
sweet benediction and brig-ht inspiration to all who 
knew his high standard of true manhood! 

"Let laurels, drenched in pure Parnassian dews, 
Reward his memory, dear to every muse; 
Who with a courage of unshalien root, 
In honor's field advancing his firm foot, 
Plants it upon the line that justice draws, 
And will prevail or perish in the cause." 

The morning after the battle of Nashville, just 
after passing" Franklin, I saw five wounded Con- 



REMINISCENCES. 49 

federates on crutches makings their way througfh the 
snow several inches deep rather than become 
prisoners. I, with four more of the company, dis- 
mounted and carried them to the Tennessee River 
before we could g-et them into a wag^on. The one I 
mounted was born and raised in Illinois and entered 
service in Pat Cleburne's company from Arkansas. 



CHAPTER VI. 

TN July 1864, General S. D. Lee was appointed lieu- 
■■• tenant g-eneral of infantry and was ordered to 
Atlanta to take command of an infantry corps. Our 
company followed him and reached there in Aug^ust 
and remained there until the evacuation of the city 
by General Hood, September 3rd. General Hood 
retired to Lovejoy after having" fought a very spirited 
and rather disastrous battle at Jonesboro, August 
31st, on the railroad between Atlanta and Macon. 
Prom Lovejoy we soon moved to Newnan (on the 
railroad between Atlanta and West Point) and 
from there early in October General Hood started on 
his Tennessee campaign; before reaching the Ten- 
nessee line we had a few spirited engagements, 
notably one at Resaca, Ga., on the Western & At- 
lantic Railroad. On the evening of November 29th, 
we arrived at Columbia, Tenn., on the Duck River, on 
the opposite bank of which was a very large Federal 
force commanded by General Schofield. Late in 
the evening- General Hood, with Stewart's and 
Cheatham's corps made a complete detour around 
the Federals leaving Lee's corps facing- Schofield 
-across Duck River. 

Hood struck the pike leading- from Columbia to 
Nashville several hours before day, a corps on each 



REMINISCENCES. 51 

side of the pike a space of four hundred yards inter- 
vening- between the two bodies of forces; in the 
meantime Schofield made a hasty and disorderly 
retreat from his line on the river closely pursued by 
Lee and about 4 o'clock in the morning- passed 
through that g-ap at Spring Hill and not even one 
g-un was fired. A volley of twenty-five muskets 
would have undoubtedly caused an immediate sur- 
render. Hundreds of men cried and beg-ged to be 
allowed to shoot; and who should be held responsible 
for this greatest blunder of criminal neg-lig-ence of 
the war on either side will probably never be known 
until the secrets of all hearts are revealed in the 
g-reat and final judgment. 

We now advanced and about 4 o'clock, p. m., 
formed in line of battle upon the summit of a very 
hig-h range of hills. From the base of the hills was 
the level valley from one to two miles wide resting- 
on the south banks of Harpeth River where spread 
out in its beauty was the town of Franklin, Tenn. 
In this open plain were three lines of Federal breast- 
works, the one nearest the town being much the 
strong-est and most formidable of the three. 

And now with their torn and tattered banners 
sweetly kissing the breezes of heaven, under the 
soul-stirring strains of Dixie and the Rebel yell 
rending the air as though it heard its echo from the 
very portals of heaven, these g-lorious, courageous 
heroes moved forward to a storm of shot and shell. 



52 REMINISCENCES. 

Over the two first lines of worlds they leap like deer 
in a g-allop, but when they charg-ed the last line beg^an 
the greatest human slaughter of the war considering" 
the time and numbers engaged. Verily it was a 
butcher pen in which human blood and human brains 
crimsoned the sod of that historic ground. Night 
did not end the terrible slaughter. They fought 
hand to hand in and across breastworks on several 
hundred yards and the blood ceased to flow only 
when hearts ceased to throb. We had five generals 
killed on the field. General Cleburne and his horse 
were killed on the very top of the works; some com- 
panies had scarcely a corporal's guard left alive. 

After 12 o'clock I heard General Hood order his 
corps commanders to put every cannon they had in 
position, fire one hundred rounds to each piece at 
break of day and then move forward; that he 
intended to take the place if it cost his own life and 
that of every man in the army. 

Schofield retreated before daylight and after bury- 
ing- the dead of both armies we advanced upon Nash- 
ville and stopped within a few miles of the city 
limits and made a strong line of breastworks. 

On the morning of December loth, Schofield hav- 
ing been heavily reinforced (I believe by Thomas, 
their combined forces at the time said to be 75,000), 
attacked us in great force. We held our lines 
unbroken throughout the day; time and again hurl- 
ing back the overwhelming numbers with great 



REMINISCENCES. 53 

slaug-hter. Nig-ht ended the battle and we withdrew 
about a mile and made another line of breastworks. 
At 9 o'clock, the 16th, Thomas attacked ag^ain, ap- 
parently with g-reater numbers than the day before, 
with seven lines of battle deep at some places, only 
to be driven back. About sunset countless thousands 
massed in front of Bates' position, broke his line 
and in the twinkling- of an eye Hood's army melted 
away like mist before the morning; sun and had '"g-one 
g^limmering through the dream of thing's that were,— 
the school-boy's tale, the wonder of an hour." 

Soon after this crushing defeat. General Joseph E. 
Johnston was ag"ain in command of the Army of Ten- 
nessee and reorg-anizing the remnant left from 
Hood's defeat was ordered to North Carolina to 
meet and combat Tecumseh Sherman to whom he 
surrendered at Greensboro, N. C., April 26, 1865. A 
few days before the surrender, one of our company 
who went with General Stephen D. Lee to Sherman's 
headquarters (then capitulating for a surrender) 
brought the news of Lincoln's assassination. I bet 
him $500 to $20 that it was a lie. We put up the 
money and he took it down and it was the only bet I 
ever made that I was glad I lost. 

A very short time after Johnston's surrender, our 
entire forces west of the Mississippi surrendered, 
and thus ended the civil war between the South 
and North — the grandest drama of the countless 
ages — the wonder and admiration of the civilized 



54 REMINISCENCES. 

world, and the last gun fired in the Civil War east of 
the Mississippi River was fired in Columbus, Ga., 
April 16, 1865, where it caug-ht the sweet music of 
the roaring- waters of our beautiful, majestic Chatta- 
hoochee River. 

"Let the Conquered Banner Wave." 

The following- poem, "Let the Conquered Banner 
Wave," was written by James Anderson, of Holyoke, 
Mass., who was so much interested in the Confed- 
erate memorial calendar published by Whitlock's 
that he wrote for several copies and it is said that the 
poem was larg-ely inspired by the memorial itself. 

"Let the Conquered Banner Wave," written by a 
Northerner, was read by him before a Confederate 
Veterans' Reunion at Petersburg-, Va., and was 
published in the Confederate Veteran, of Nashville, 
Tenn., and has excited much favorable comment 
throughout the South. 

The poem follows: 

Why furl it and fold It and put it away, 

The Banner that proudly waved over the Gray? 

It has not a blemish, it shows not a stain, 

Though it waved over fields where thousands were slain. 

O, why should we furl it and put it away? 

It's loved and respected by the Blue and the Gray. 

They fought for a cause they thought was just, 
And this Banner they loved was trailed in the dust. 
Their fight was lost and their hopes are dead, 
And another flag waves proud o'er their head; 
But still In their memory without boast or brag. 
Wound around their hearts is this bonnie blue flag. 



REMINISCENCES. 55 

So unfurl that Banner; don't lay It away. 
There is but one country— It's both Blue and Gray- 
Just one united land for us all. 
Each willing and ready to answer the call; 
But no land on earth, no history can say 
That braver men lived than those of the Gray. 

Don't furl it and fold it and put it away. 

Let our sons and daughters gaze on it and say: 

" 'Twill live on forever in story and song. 

Brave men fought for it; they may have been wrong; 

But they fought for it gladly, heroes and brave. 

And the bonnie blue flag waves over their grave." 

So unfurl the old Banner; let It float in the air; 

Let all the old veterans salute it up there. 

Though their cause it was lost, they were men tried and true. 

And they loved their old Banner so bonnie and blue. 

Now here's to old Dixie, the land of the brave: 

"All hall to the bonnie blue flag; let it wave!" 

On the nig-ht of April 24, 1865, Gunby Jordan, 
dies Howard and I, and several more of the Nelson 
Rang-ers, left Greensboro, N. C, intending- to join 
General Kirby Smith's army west of the Mississippi 
River. Within a few days he surrendered, and with 
his surrender the war ended. I have never surren- 
dered, been paroled or taken any oath of alleg-iance 
to this Yankee Doodle-ized U. S. Government. Except 
myself, I have never known or heard of anyone in 
either army who is entitled to a pension and has 
never drawn it, and did that pension of sixty dollars 
annually amount to thousands of dollars I would still 
dedicate it to the deathless love and sweet memories 
of the hallowed and rig-hteous cause for which dear 
old Dixie heroically foug-ht and g-loriously died. 



66 REMINISCENCES. 

I arrived home May 6, 1865, having- swum nearly 
every river from Greensboro, N. C, to Columbus, Ga. 
As I reached the g-ate beyond which stood tlie beau- 
tiful home, a flood of sweet, fond, tender memories 
swept over me. In a few minutes I clasped my dear 
wife in loving- embrace as she "sobbed aloud in the 
fullness of her heart" and with many a fond kiss, I 
knew that brig-ht beautiful May morn greeted no 
two mortals on earth with more pure joy and true, 
unalloyed happiness than it greeted that husband 
and wife. Yes, "She is mine own, and I am as rich 
in having- such a jewel, as twenty seas, if all their 
sand were pearls, the water nectar, and the rocks 
pure gold." 

"Here's a sigh to those who love me, 
And a smile for those who hate, 
And whatever sky's above me. 
Here's a heart for every fate; 
Though the ocean roar around me, 
1 et It still shall bear me on; 
Though a desert should surround me. 
It hath springs that may be won." 

In Aug-ust 1865, my wife and I moved into a home 
on the Talbotton Road about five miles east of the 
city where I conducted a dairy and veg-etable farm 
until the fall of 1869. In 1866 I was appointed dep- 
uty sheriff of Muscog-ee County. At that time a 
non-resident of Georgia, owing money to a resident 
of this State, could be arrested under a bail writ 
and required to make bond with security for the 



REMINISCENCES. 57 

payment of the money, upon failure of which, he 
was confined in the County jail. Under the law, 
any officer after making- an arrest and who failed to 
g-et the money or bond with security for the pay- 
ment of the money due by the defendant, or who 
failed to confine the defendant in jail, became indi- 
vidually responsible for payment in full of the 
money due by the defendant. A short time after 
my appointment, I arrested in Columbus one Eg-g^en- 
weiler, a citizen of Girard, Ala., under a bail writ 
for $500.00 due a citizen of Columbus. Upon serv- 
ing- the writ, Eg-g-enweiler asked me what he had to 
do, to which I replied: "Pay the money or make 
bond with security or g'o to jail," and he replied, "I 
no pay de money, I no g-o to jail, but I send for mine 
vife and we see about dot udder bisness." Pretty 
soon his wife came; they asked for a private chat, 
which I readily g-ranted, suspecting- nothing-. The}'- 
retired to the rear room, closing- the door behind 
them. After waiting- for sometime I opened the 
door, and there alone in her g-lory sat the wife, the 
husband was very conspicuous for his, to me, ver}^ 
painful absence. I asked her where her husband 
was, and she said, "O, he g-one home." I then said 
to her, "You tell him that if he does not bring- me 
an approved bond this evening-, I will come for him 
to-morrow morning-." "Yes, I tell him," she said, 
"but I know he no come." The next morning- I g-ot 
a hack, and with two friends to assist me, I went to 



58 REMINISCENCES. 

his brewery, took him and locked him up in our jail. 
Not long- after a lawyer met me and thusly 
accosted me: "Howard, do you know you have 
committed the very serious crime of kidnapping", 
the penalty for which is a long" sentence in the 
Alabama State Penitentiary?" "I recog^nize the 
fact," I answered, and upon which he said: "I 
don't want to be hard on you, and make you this 
proposition; you pay the $500.00 and that will satis- 
factorily end the matter." I replied, "To hell with 
your proposition; I wouldn't g"ive you a sing^le 
penny." A short time after that the sheriff of 
Russell County, Ala., J. T. Holland, served me with 
a leg-al requisition, from the Governor of Alabama, 
upon the Governor of Georg-ia, to be tried in Ala- 
bama under the charg-e of kidnapping-. Sheriff 
Holland required no bond of me, telling- me to 
report to him at Crawford, County seat of Russell 
County, upon the assembling- of the first session of 
Court thereafter, which I did. When the case was 
called the State announced "Ready," and without 
lawyer or witness, I announced "Ready," upon 
which Judg-e Robert Doug-herty instructed the 
Solicitor, or Judg-e J. H. McDonald, to nol-pros the 
case. So much for being arraig-ned before a just, 
uprig-ht judg-e, who rebuked the would-be thief, and 
the Dutchman paid the $500.00 and I never 
answered "Here" at the roll-call of the Alabama 
Penitentiary. 



REMINISCENCES. 59 

My father died February 1, 1867, admired, 
respected and loved by everyone who knew him 
and I know of no higfher compliment ever paid truer 
manhood tlian paid by a Judg-e of the Superior Court 
in Houston County, Ga., in a case tried before a jury 
in his Court, in which the testimony on both sides 
considerably conflicted. A witness on the stand was 
asked by the Judg-e what he knew of the case, and 
replied: "All tliat I know of the case is that I heard 
Aug-ustus Howard say that he would swear to such 
and such facts bearing- on the case (repeating- the 
words). The Judg-e allowed what my father would 
have sworn to, had he been present to g-o before the 
jury, as evidence and it made the verdict. Of course, 
no such testimony would be admitted in these days 
to g-o to a jury. Tlie above facts were g-iven to me 
many years ag-o by my uncle, Joseph W. Wimberly 
(a brother of my motlier), who died several years ag-o 
in Houston County. 

When General John B. Hood and his wife died in 
New Orleans, leaving- eleven children, friends of the 
family selected a committee of friends to find homes 
with g-ood people for these fatherless and motherless 
children. One of this committee was John A. Camp- 
bell, a former Associate Justice of the United States 
Supreme Court. He and my father had been true 
friends in their early manhood. My sister, Mrs. M. 
E. Joseph, of this city, went to New Orleans and ap- 
plied for the tender babe. On beingf presented to 



60 REMINISCENCES. 

Judgfe Campbell, he told her he would require un- 
doubted reference before he would gfive any of the 
children to anyone. He then asked her where she 
lived. Being- answered "Columbus, Ga.," the next 
question was: "What was your maiden name?" My 
sister replied " Howard . " " Anj^ relation to Augfustus 
Howard?" "A daug-hter," was the reply; upon 
which he said: "Mrs. Joseph, I require no other 
reference; the baby is yours." She broug^ht the 
dear baby home with her and ere many moons 
had waxed and waned the sweet tender bud was 
blighted to blossom in a purer clime, and on the 
marble slab that marks its last place of rest in 
the silent city of the dead, where sleep six gene- 
rations of my family, is inscribed "Gertrude 
Hood Joseph — adopted daughter of M. and M. E. 
Joseph." 

Now and then the far distant future reveals actual 
realities never thoug-ht or dreamed of in the misty 
past. For instance, when the g-allant Hood with 
one leg- buried in Virg-inia, one arm hang-ing- useless 
at his side, grandly g-raced the saddle on his war 
steed and fearlessly faced Sherman in Atlanta 
(July 1864), when he with 100,000 Federal soldiers 
and 300 cannon was thundering- at her gates, there 
in the ranks was a private soldier, brother of the 
g-rand, g-lorious woman who afterwards became the 
foster mother of this beautiful, fatherless, mother- 
less babe. 



REMINISCENCES. 61 

'Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate; 

All but page prescribed their present state 

From brutes what men, from men what spirits know; 

Or who could sufTer here below; 

The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, 

Had he thy reason would he skip and play? 

Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flowery food, 

And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood. 

Oh, blindness to the future! kindly given. 

That each man All the circle marked by Heaven; 

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, 

A hero perish or a sparrow fall. 

Atoms or systems into ruin hurled. 

And a bubble burst and now a world!" 



In October 1869, I boug-ht a farm near what is 
now known as Wende, in Russell County, Ala. On 
account of my wife's health I moved back to Colum- 
bus in 1874. I distributed tickets at every polling- 
place in the County in 1876, with the name of 
R. B. Hayes for President and Wheeler for Vice- 
President at the head of the ticket, the names of 
Seymour and Blair electors immediately under. 
The monumental theft and g-igantic fraud of that 
election has its place in tlie infamous history of this 
Government. 

In 1877, I moved to Apalachicola, Fla., but on 
account of the continued ill health of my wife I 
moved, in 1878, to Boone County, Ky., and taught 
school there until October 1880, and there my wife 
and I took from the cradle a beautiful motherless 
girl babe, whose father was a gallant Confederate 
soldier, and legally adopted her as our own daughter. 



62 REMINISCENCES. 

I have never regretted the act. That babe devel- 
oped into a true type of noble womanhood; the 
mother of five beautiful daug-hters. A father never 
loved an own child more fondly than I have loved 
her; a child never loved an own father more than 
she has loved me. Verily she has ever been a brig-ht 
sparkling" sunbeam in my life and has never cast one 
dark shadow on my pathway of life. 

With a party of about thirty from Columbus, I 
left Louisville, Ky., June 6, 1877, on the steamer 
G. Gunby Jordan, bound for Columbus. We had the 
trip of our lives; played Bunco and Pedro day and 
nig'ht during" the entire trip. We adopted the rule 
that the only betting" done should be for drinks and 
those drinks should be neither river or sea water. 
Before reaching" New Orleans, we decided that we 
would administer "17 et Annis^'" a concoction of 
Kentucky Mountain Dew, to the only teetotaler of 
the party, I. L. Pollard, so that he could properly 
combobulate on his complivity, so we held him and 
with a funnel g"ave the prescription, upon which the 
teetotaler said the remedy was worse than the 
disease and declared "war to the knife" and the 
knife to the hilt ag"ainst the party; however, believ- 
ing" that discretion was the better part of valor, 
knowing" that he could not successfully cope with 
twenty-nine brave, courag"eous spirits, decided that 
of the two evils, wisdom demanded that he should 
choose tlie least, made peace, publiclj;' announcing" 



REMINISCENCES. 63 

that "All's well that ends well." Upon arrival at 
New Orleans, about half the party took the train to 
Columbus. We remained in Santa Rosa Sound near 
Pensacola, Fla., eig-ht daj^s for favorable winds and 
tides to reach Apalachicola. Near Pensacola, Bill 
Martiniere shaved me and made a miscue with 
malace-aforethoug-ht and cut me so I bled quite 
freely, and soon there was found in a pool of my 
blood a hug-e dead mosquito with his feet pointing- 
upward and under his wings a piece of brickbat 
with which to whet his William, and it was a much 
discussed and mooted question among the boys 
whether that mosquito was drowned in my blood or 
died from smelling Mart's breath; — j^ou pay your 
money and take your choice. Dear old Mart, gen- 
erous to a fault, he carried his heart in one hand 
and his purse in the other and lived and died with 
"Love for all and malice for none." 

"Green be the turf above him, 
Friend of my early days; 
None knew him but to love him, 
None spoke of htm but to praise ' 

We arrived at Columbus July 4th, and at least 
half of the party have passed to "that bourne from 
whence no traveler returneth . ' ' 

A few days before the presidential election be- 
tween Hancock and Garfield, November 1880, I 
bought a farm near Loveland, Ohio, twenty miles 
from Cincinnati. I boarded for a short time in a 



64 REMINISCENCES. 

larg-e hotel tilled with Republicans, both men and 
women, some of them very clever and conservative; 
others bitter haters and vile traducers of the South. 
Among the latter was a school-marm. Miss Williams. 
Within a few days I met her on the street on her 
way home; it was raining" and I handed her my 
umbrella. She accepted it and said, "Mr. Howard, 
you are the only gentleman who has ever taken the 
umbrella from over his own head in the rain and put 
it over mine, but I suppose I must attribute it to 
your extreme Southern chivalry;" to which I replied, 
"Miss Williams, you may attribute it to whatsoever 
you please, but your men in this section have no 
conception of what is due woman." I then told her 
that during the entire war, whenever I was in 
Yankee territory, I would take my hat off, throw it 
on the ground and make my horse step on it, if I 
saw a Yankee woman's petticoat hanging on a 
clothes line a mile from the road. That very morn- 
ing she told me, at a full breakfast table, that she 
hated me and everybodj^ and everything in the 
South, that they killed her two brothers in the same 
battle. Asking what battle, she told me, and having 
been in the same battle I was just mean enough to 
tell her that I might have killed one or both of her 
brothers; that I was there, shooting to kill, as fast 
as I could load. Doubtless her innermost thought 
was, "Too much South has made you mad and you 
persuade me to believe that you are a devil." 



REMINISCENCES. 65 

Garfield was elected, and if the Republicans could 
have crowed me to death that morning- they would 
have had me barbecued for dinner. I told them I 
had just moved from the South to Christianize 
the heathen of Doodledom; that "he laughs best 
who laug-hs last;" that four years from that very 
morning- the laugh would be on my side. A prophet 
sometimes has honor in his own country. And sure 
enoug-h, in 1884, I sent the Columbus Enquirer-Sun 
the following- teleg-ram for which I paid $7.50: 

(From Columbus Etujuirer-San, Sunday morning, 
November 9, 1884.) 

PAINTING OHIO RED. 

LovELAND, O., Nov. 8, "Keno!" The cat has 

jumped our way at last, giving us high, low, gift, jack 
and the game. Everything is lovely; the goose hangs 
high; the bottom rail is on top; wings seven feet long 
and sailing in regions of Democratic bliss. We "paint 
Ohio red" to-night. 1 am feeling so good I just taste 
myself sweeter than sugar. The Democratic pro- 
. cession has a.ssuraed enormous proportions and will 
reach Washington March 4th and keep marching on 
through four years of honest government and lower 
taxation. The bloody shirt Is buried forever. There 
is no use moralizing, the bold facts are that not even 
the highly moral Republican Party can shake his im- 
maculate shirts at immoralitj' and behind them elect 
a white-headed old thief. Tlie Republicans now have 
time to read over what they intended to do and reflect 
on how they did it. 

R. M. HOVVAKD. 

I lived in Ohio nine years, made many true friends 
(both men and women), and was prevailed on by 
friends during- the last year of my residence there to 

6 



66 REMINISCENCES. 

offer for school trustee of my township. A near-by 
neig-hbor and Federal soldier opposed me on the plea 
that I was a Rebel soldier. I did not ask a man in 
the township to vote for me, did not g^o to the polls 
the day of the election, and defeated my opponent 
by a larg-e majority. I won $30.00 from a rantank- 
erous Republican named Eveland on Cleveland's 
election for President in 1884, offered to double the 
bet with him on Cleveland when Harrison defeated 
him in 1888. I left Ohio in 1889 and Eveland was 
sick and sore over the $30.00 I did win and the $60.00 
he didn't win. 

I left Cincinnati the nig-ht of October 14, 1889, for 
Columbus, Ga., with the dead body of my wife. At 
the same time another casket was placed in the same 
car. The next morning- about sun-up our train was 
fiag"g"ed down on account of a wrecked freig^ht train 
just ahead of us. Pretty soon a g^entleman ap- 
proached me and said: "I want to tell you the 
strang-est coincidence you ever heard of. I am a 
major in the United States Army, stationed in the 
far Northwest. My family live in Macon, Ga. One 
year ag-o I visited there, and on reaching- them I 
found my wife rapidly sinking- from consumption. I 
took her to Savannah at once, and from there to 
New York on steamer, visiting- several largfe Eastern 
cities and then took her to my post on the frontier. 
After the lapse of four months from the time I left 
Macon, I realized she was rapidly approaching- the 



REMINISCENCES. 67 

end and left for home immediately. On reaching" 
Cincinnati I stopped at the Grand Hotel; had a 
physician summoned and five minutes after reaching" 
the room she was dead. I had her body prepared 
for burial by our undertaker and left Cincinnati on 
the 8:30 p. m. train for Macon. About sun-up the 
next morning: the train was flag"g"ed down. Now, 
that is the one part of the coincidence. Four 
months ag"o on visiting" my family agfain I found my 
oldest daug"hter in the same condition of her mother 
of the previous year; took her on the identical trip 
of her mother. On reaching" Cincinnati I took her 
to the same hotel, same room occupied by her 
mother, summoned the same physician, and when he 
reached the room she was dead. I had the body 
prepared for burial by the same undertaker, left 
Cincinnati on the 8:30 p. m. train, for Macon and 
we are flag"g"ed down at the very same spot and at 
the verj^ same hour in which the train was flag"g"ed 
down on account of a wrecked freig"ht train just one 
year ag"o." 



'Too curious mau, why does thou seek to know 
Events, which good or 111, foreknown are woe; 
The allseelns power that made thee mortal gave 
Thee everything a mortal state should have; 
Foreknowledge only Is enjoyed by heaven; 
And for his peace of mind, to man forbidden; 
Wretched were life, If he foreknew his doom; 
Even joys foreseen give pleasing hope no room, 
And griefs a.ssured are felt before they come." 



68 REMINISCENCES. 

Should you ask me why these coincidences as 
above related, I reply truly: "God moves in a mys- 
terious way His wonders to perform." 

A few days after the death of President Jefferson 
Davis in December, 1889, Col. Shepherd and I raised 
in dollar subscriptions for his family more than six 
hundred dollars. Ever since then I have been on 
many different committees to solicit money for 
various purposes. On all such occasions, my old 
friend J. Rhodes Browne was my man Friday, and 
whenever I asked him for a contribution he would 
ask how much I wanted from him. Whatever 
amount I named he always doubled, telling" me when 
I got through soliciting- for that particular object 
and needed more, to call ag^ain and he would 
respond. In the municipal election in 1897 there 
was a political ring- that had dominated city politics 
for quite a number of years to such an extent that 
they had the city g-overnment entirely in their own 
control. The people demanded a chang-e; rose in 
their might and power, and after the most intense 
and heated municipal election I ever knew in Colum- 
bus, the ring- was most sig-nally defeated by the 
election of L. H. Chappell for Mayor with eight true, 
and equally good, progressive, conservative, prac- 
tical aldermen. The former was honored with five 
consecutive terms for Mayor, amounting to ten years 
and voluntarily retired from office with the worthily 
earned plaudit: "Well done thou good and faithful 



REMINISCENCES. 69 

servant." I was one of a committee that raised five 
thousand dollars with which to clean out the Aug-ean 
stable of municipal politics in this fair city of 
Columbus. As on all former occasions of similar 
import I called on my old friend Browne and asked 
for one hundred dollars. He g"ave me two liundred 
and fifty dollars, saying-, "If that is not enough, come 
back ag"ain." In striking- contrast was this with 
another wealthy man that I approached for the same 
object, who offered me one dollar. I told him to 
keep it as he needed it more than the committee did. 

"O, cursed lust of gold; when for thy sake 
The fool throws up his Interest in both worlds; 
First starved in this, then damned in that to come." 



CHAPTER VII. 

Annual Oration Delivered to the United 
Confederate Veterans at the Reunion 
Held in Little Rock, Arkansas, in May, 
1911, BY Dr. R. C. Cave, of St. Louis, Mo. 

■\"1 7HEN I was honored with the invitation to 
' ' address tlie United Confederate Veterans to- 
day, I felt that, although sensible of the weig"ht of 
years and distrustful of my abilit3' , I could not refuse 
to do so, lest my refusal mig-ht seem to indicate a lack 
of sympathy with, and admiration for, the men who, 
in my estimation, rank with the bravest and best of 
those whose achievements have illumined the pag^es 
of history. I am g"lad that I have the privileg"e and 
honor of speaking" to so many gfray-haired men who, 
half a century ag-o, marched forth to battle in re- 
sponse to the call of the Confederacy; to so many of 
the Sons of Veterans, to whom the recollection of the 
deeds of their fathers should ever be an inspiration; 
and to so many of the fair daug-hters of Dixie, whose 
presence in this g^athering' reminds us of the beauty, 
the devotion and the splendid heroism of the women 
of the South. 

Fellow-Veterans, the sun of our day is far past the 
zenith, and rapidly nearing- the western horizon. In 
a few years at most we must " cross over the river " 



REMINISCENCES. 71 

and join the comrades who have pitched their tents 
in "the undiscovered country." But, while waiting- 
for the summons to the reunion "over there," it is 
both pleasant and profitable to meet here, from time 
to time, and revive memories of the days when 
we foug-ht under the loved banner which is 

" * * * wreathed around with glory 
And will live in song and story, 
Though Its folds are in the dust." 

The revival of such memories is, in a way, a renewal 
of our youth. It is like strong- wine to the slug-g-ish 
currents of our blood. It exhilarates us ; and, in our 
exhilaration, we forg-et for a moment that time, with 
its toils and cares and disappointments and heart- 
aches, has robbed us of youthful vig-or and activity. 
In fancy the fetters of ag-e fall from us, and we are 
ag-ain young- and strong-, g-allantly stepping- to the 
strains of " Dixie," patiently and cheerfully enduring- 
the hardships of the camp and the march, bravely 
facing- the dang-ers of the field, and valiantly fig-hting- 
for home and country and the rig-ht of self-g-overn- 
ment inherited from our fathers. And when we awake 
from this momentary fancy to face the stern realities 
of life, the memory of those days, refreshed and 
streng-thened, lingers with us as an incentive to more 
courag-eous endeavor. 

Those were days of brave men and brave deeds; 
men and deeds that crowned the South with grlory, 
and that her people should ever hold among- their 



72 REMINISCENCES. 

most sacred and cherished memories ; men of heroic 
mold, actuated by the pm-est and loftiest patriotism 
and the most unselfish devotion to duty, who per- 
formed deeds of endurance and valor, such as thrill 
the heart of mankind with admiration. 

To admire courag-e is a human instinct. Whether 
displayed where "the pestilence walketh in dark- 
ness" or where " the destruction wasteth at noon- 
day;" whether expressed in g-entle ministrations of 
mercy where deadly and contagious fevers rag^e, or 
in deeds of daring- done where contending armies 
meet in the rush and roar and shock of battle, daunt- 
less courag'e touches an answering chord in all manly 
hearts, and true men everywhere bestow on it the 
meed of praise. It commands our respect and admi- 
ration, even when shown by those who are hostile to 
us. The heroic soul g-reets all heroes as kindred 
spirits, whether they fig"ht by its side or level lance 
against it. Hence, the true and brave everywhere 
pay tribute to the valor of the soldiers of the Confed- 
eracy. The men who, for four j^ears, unciuailingly 
faced the might of the puissant North, and hurled 
back in defeat the splendidly-equipped and powerful 
armies sent to overwhelm them, challeng-e the admi- 
ration of mankind, and deserve to stand on a pedestal 
of renown side by side with the famed knig-hts of 
.story whose valorous deeds amazed the world. 

But we should not forg-et that their valor alone 
cannot win for them the highest and fullest praise. 



REMINISCENCES. 73 

While the admiration of couragfe is instinctive, the 
condemnation of its display in support of injustice, 
oppression and wrong- is also instinctive. The world 
esteems men, not only according- to their courag-e, 
but also according^ to the cause in which it is exhib- 
ited. Mankind will not continue to hold even the 
bravest in honorable and loving- remembrance if their 
bravery is tainted with disloyalty and treason. 

Hence, if we would hand the memorj^ of the soldiers 
of the Confederacy down to posterity, so that their 
descendants may think of them without a ting-e of 
shame — if we would have future g-enerations g-ive 
them praise unmixed with blame, instead of acqui- 
escing- in misrepresentations of their motives and 
actions — we must maintain, and teach our children 
to maintain, that they were not only courag-eous, but 
couragfeous in a, just and rig-hteous cause. 

They failed ; but I do not, like many, accept their 
failure as proof of the unrig-hteousness of the cause 
for which they fought. 'Tis said, ''Thrke armed is he 
who hath his quarrel just; " and, had the odds ag-ainst 
them been only three to one, I have not a doubt that 
the Stars and Stripes, instead of the Stars and Bars, 
would have g-one down in defeat. But the odds 
agrainst them were more than four to one in men, and 
incalculably great in all the means of wag-ingf war; 
and the fact that they could not prevail ag-ainst such 
odds is no sigfn that they were fig-hting- ag-ainst God 
and the rig-ht. We read in the Book of Judg-es that 



74 REMINISCENCES. 

"the Lord was with Judah," but he '"could not drive 
out the inhabitants, of the valley, because they had 
chariots of iron;" and we thus have Scriptural 
authority for sayin^- that, with overwhelming- odds 
arrayed ag"ainst them, men may fail, even when the 
Lord is with them and the right is on their side. 

As I said on a former occasion, " I am not one of 
those who, cling'ing' to the old superstition that the 
will of Heaven is revealed in the immediate results 
of trial by combat, fancy that rig-ht must always be 
on the side of the conqueror, and speak of Appomat- 
tox as a judg-ment of God. I do not forg-et that a 
Suwaroff triumphed and a Kosciusko fell ; that a 
Nero wielded the scepter of empire and a Paul was 
beheaded ; that a Herod was crowned and a Christ 
was crucified; and, instead of accepting^ the defeat of 
the South as a Divine verdict ag-ainst her, I reg-ard 
it as but another instance of truth on the scaffold 
and wrong- on the throne." 

In the nature of thing's, the arbitrament of war can 
not determine the rig-hteousness of any cause. Vic- 
tory can not chang-e wrong- into rig-ht, and defeat can 
not chang-e rig-ht into wrong-. War chang-es condi- 
tions ; it can not possibly chang-e principles. And 
while I accept the chang-ed conditions broug-ht about 
by the war between the sections, I hold that, as to 
the principles involved in that war, 

" Blue Is blue and Gray is graj% 
And will be so till tlie judgment day;" 



REMINISCENCES. 75 

and that the Gray represented the principles on which 
the Union, as formed by the fathers, was founded. 

I am aw^are that many think this should be said, if 
said at all, with bated breath and in the softest of 
whispers. Some of them tell us that all discussion 
of matters pertaining- to the war should be avoided 
as wicked, because it may excite sectional bitterness 
and hate. If any embers of sectional hate and bitter- 
ness, which the breath of free discussion can fan into 
a flame, still smolder in the hearts of either North- 
erners or Southerners, I sincerely deplore it. I most 
earnestly desire to see the people of both sections 
ruled by the spirit of fraternitj^ and harmoniously 
working- together for the welfare of our common 
country; but I do not think the men of the South 
should be asked, or expected, to sacrilice the truth of 
history, and gfo down to posterity branded as rebels 
and traitors to secure that end. 

Others tell us that any reference to these old ques- 
tions is inexpedient, because it may prevent Northern 
capitalists from investing- in the South, and prove 
detrimental to business. To my mind this is absurd. 
As a rule, the investments of Northern capital never 
have been, are not, and never will be, influenced by 
sentiment. The men of the North, as a class, put 
their m.oney where they think it will yield them the 
surest and larg-est profits. In the war of 1812, the 
people of New Engfland loaned their money to Great 
Britain rather than to their own Government, which 



76 REMINISCENCES. 

was sorely in need of financial aid. If the South can 
offer to Northern capitalists investments which they 
think will yield them larg-er returns than they can 
g"et elsewhere, she will g"et their money, reg"ardless 
of what her people may think or say about the war. 
But, even if this were not so, I think we must have 
lost the manhood which made the Old South gflorious, 
if we are willing- to suppress the truth necessary to 
our vindication for the sake of g"ain, and are ready to 

11* * * bend the pliant hinges of the kuee, 
That thrift may follow fawning." 

But it is said that questions pertaining- to the war 
belong- to the past, and we should g-ive our attention 
to thing-s of the present — that " we have no Divine 
call to stand g-uard over the g-rave of dead issues." 
On this point let me say that, while those old issues 
ma5^ be dead politically, they are not yet quite dead 
historically, and we are called by all the prompting-s 
of honor to see to it that they shall not die and be 
buried historically until they can be entombed con- 
sistently with truth, and with the fair fame of the 
land we love. 

And, if these questions really belong- to the past, 
why may they not be discussed as freely as we discuss 
other past events ? Since the beg-inning- of the war 
between the sections fifty years have come and g-one, 
bring-ing- with them new issues and new interests, 
cooling- the fires of sectional passion, healing- sec- 
tional dissensions, and tending- to restore peace and 



REMINISCENCES. 77 

fraternity between the people of the North and the 
people of the South. Since then men who wore the 
Gray have stood in line of battle shoulder to shoulder 
with those who wore the Blue, and foug-ht under the 
Stars and Stripes as bravely as they did under the 
Starry Cross. Of those who marched to battle then, 
whether w^earing- Blue or Gray, all, save an age- 
enfeebled remnant, are sleeping- the sleep from which 
"no sound can awake them to glory again." New 
men, most of them too j^oung to have taken part in 
the war, and many of them unborn when it closed, 
have come to the front, and are directing the affairs 
of the nation. And surely now, half a century after- 
wards, when all the bitter animosities engendered by 
what was then said and done have been, or ought to 
have been, long since buried, there can be no impro- 
priety in recalling some of the events of that time, 
and stating facts which bring into prominence the 
real cause of the South's withdrawal from the Union, 
and justify the action of her people. 

And I believe it to be the duty of every Southern 
man to do what he can to set forth these facts, and 
impress them on the minds of the new generation. 

We stand charged at the bar of History with the 
crime of treasonably attempting to overthrow the 
best Government that the world ever saw in order to 
perpetuate human slavery; and if we refuse to make 
any defense the future will adjudge us guilty and 
consign us to infamy. The South can not refuse to 



78 REMINISCENCES. 

plead her cause — can not acquiesce in the misrepre- 
sentations of so-called history, written by men who 
have either misunderstood or wilfullj^ defamed her — 
without proving- false to herself, false to the gfreat 
statesmen and militarj^ leaders who guided her to 
g-lory in the past, and false to those indomitable heroes 
who, with no hope of reward save such as might be 
found in the consciousness of duty well and faithfully 
done, shouldered their muskets in answer to her call, 
and, on the field of battle, sealed their devotion to 
her cause with their blood. 

Bear with me, then, while, in justification of the 
action of the men of the Soutli, I endeavor to briefly 
indicate the real issue in controversy which led to 
secession and war. 

However it may have been overshadowed and 
obscured by subordinate matters, the real question 
in that controversy was : Shall this country be g-ov- 
erned by the Constitution as construed by the men 
who framed it, by the States that ratified it, by the 
ablest jurists in the country, both North and South, 
and b}^ the highest judicial tribunal in the land V 
The notion that the Southern Steites seceded and 
fought for the extension and perpetuation of slavery 
has no foundation in fact. "This whole subject of 
slavery, in any and every view of it," said Mr. Ste- 
phens, "was, to the seceding- States, but a drop in 
the ocean compared with other considerations in- 
volved in the issue." Slavery was a matter of com- 



REMINISCENCES. 79 

paratively minor importance, tlie controversy about 
which brougfht to the front tlie far more important 
question of fidelity to the Constitution. In the debate 
on the Nebraska Bill, Senator Doug'las, speaking" of 
the slavery aofitation, said : "It has always arisen 
from one and the same cause. Whenever that cause 
has been removed, the ag"itation has ceased; and when- 
ever that cause has been renewed, the ag^itation has 
sprung- into existence. That cause is, and ever has 
been, the attempt on the part of Cong"ress to inter- 
fere with the question of slavery in the Territories 
and new States formed therefrom. Is it not wise, 
then, to confine our action within the sphere of our 
leg-itimate duties, and leave this vexed question to 
take care of itself in each State and Territor}^ in con- 
formity to the forms and in subjection to the pro- 
visions of the Constitution y" 

Mr. Doug-las stated the case truly. The sole cause 
of the controversy about slavery, in the councils of 
the nation, was the attempt of Cong-ress to g-o bej'ond 
the sphere of its leg-itimate duties and interfere with 
the question. The controvers3^ was not about slavery 
itself — not whether it was rig-ht or wrong-, not 
whether it oug-ht or oug-ht not to be abolished or 
restricted — but about whether Congress should ex- 
ceed the powers which the Constitution g-ranted to 
that body, and leg-islate ag-ainst it. 

As the Constitution did not g-ive Cong-ress the 
authority to leg-islate against slavery, the anti- 



80 REMINISCENCES. 

slavery party, throug-li its representative men, 
decried that instrument as an immoral and pro- 
slavery compact, and declared the purpose to be 
g-overned by a so-called " hig-her law." 

" The anti-slavery faction in the North," says Mr. 
Lunt, in his Origin of the Late War, " led by members 
of Congress from that quarter, by political and lit- 
erary orators of every g-rade, and by the reverend 
clergy of most religious denominations, were deter- 
mined that there should be no more slavery territory, 
— law or no law." 

The chief exponent of that party's principles and 
purposes, said: "There is a law higher than the 
Constitution which regulates our authority over the 
domain. Slavery must be abolished, and we must do 
it." This was not merely a declaration of war 
ag"ainst slavery ; it was a declaration of war against 
Constitutional Government. It was a bold avowal 
of the purpose to set at naught the provisions of the 
Constitution, and run the Government according to 
that party's judgment of what ought to be done, 
which was presumptuously called "a law higher than 
the Constitution." 

This higher-law doctrine of Mr. Seward, as an 
eminent Northern jurist testifies, "was adopted, 
avowed and acted upon by his partj^ with almost 
entire unanimity, whenever and wherever they 
found their wishes opposed by a Constitutional 
interdict. By him and by them the old notion 



REMINISCENCES. 81 

that the law of the land ougfht to be obeyed was 
scoffed at." 

The party's candidate for the Presidency was com- 
mitted to this doctrine. In a speech made in Boston 
in the summer of I860, Mr. Seward declared that 
"the people's standard-bearer, Abraham Lincoln, 
confessed the oblig^ations of the higher law ; ' ' and 
predicted the speedy and " triumphant inaug-uration 
of this policy into the Government of the United 
States." 

In the North the provision of the Constitution for 
the rendition of fugitive slaves was indignantly repu- 
diated, not only by public gatherings wrought up to 
a high pitch of excitement by the appeals of impas- 
sioned orators, but by deliberative bodies assembled 
to calml^^ legislate for the people. The legislatures 
of a majority of the Northern States enacted laws to 
prevent the execution of measures adopted by Con- 
gress to make that clause of the Constitution more 
effective, and thus deliberately violated the compact 
of Union, and set their judgment above the fun- 
damental law. " It is a singular political Nemesis," 
says Dr. Curry, " tliat Nullification and Rebellion, as 
terms of reproach, should attach to the South, while 
the North has escaped any odium attaching to the 
terms, although she openly and successfully nullified 
the Constitution, and the flag of rebellion against 
the Federal Compact and Federal laws floated over 
half her capitols." 

'7) 



82 REMINISCENCES. 

While the North thus tiagrantly repudiated the 
Constitution, the men of the South were unswerv- 
ing-ly loyal to it. They opposed its violation even to 
serve their own interests. This was illustrated in the 
United States Senate when Jefferson Davis opposed 
a resolution looking" to the establishment of an armed 
force along- the line separating- the free and the slave 
States, to prevent any invasion of the latter by men 
from the former, and to make more effective the 
execution of the Fug-itive Slave Laws. Mr. Davis 
firmly opposed this measure, which was intended to 
protect Southern interests and secure Southern 
rig-hts, on the ground that it tended to confer on the 
Federal Government the power to compel the North- 
ern States to fulfill their Constitutional oblig'ations. 

He said : " It is providing- to carry on war ag-ainst 
States ; and, whether it be ag-ainst Massachusetts or 
Missouri, it is equally objectionable to me ; and I 
will resist it alike in the one case and in the other as 
subversive of the g-reat principle on which our Gov- 
ernment rests." The men of the South upheld the 
Constitution as the instrument in which the States 
had solemnly plig-hted their faith, each to the others, 
and the provisions of which could not be violated in 
any manner or degfree without dishonor. They were 
called " Strict Constructionists," because they pro- 
tested agfainst any loose interpretation of it to justify 
party policies and expedient measures. They faith- 
fully fulfilled every obligation which it imposed on 



REMINISCENCES. 83 

them, and urg"ed its faithful observance by others as 
essential to the peace and prosperity of the country. 

When the anti-slavery party had elected to the 
Presidency a man avowedly hostile to her interests, 
all that the South asked was to be assured that the 
authority of the Constitution would continue to be 
recog'uized, and that the Government would continue 
to be administered according- to its provisions. This 
assurance she could not g-et. On this point the testi- 
mony of Judg-e Black, of Pennsylvania, in reg^ard to 
an interview which he had with Mr. Seward, is con- 
clusive. Mr. Seward was the recog'uized leader of 
his party, was slated for the head of the State 
Department under its rule, and was g-enerally sup- 
posed to be the man who, " with law in his voice and 
honor in his hand," would shape its policy. To him 
Judg-e Black went, at the request of Southern men, 
to see if he would not g-ive them some ground on 
which they could stand in the Union with safety. An 
account of their interview is g-iven by Judg-e Black 
in an open letter to Mr. Charles Francis Adams, pub- 
lished in 1874. He says : 

"Many propositions were discussed, and rejected 
as being- either impracticable or likely to prove use- 
less, before I told him what I felt perfectly sure 
would stop all controversy at once and forever. I 
proposed that he should simply pledgee himself and 
the incoming- administration to g-overn according- to 
the Constitution, and upon every disputed point of 



84 REMINISCENCES. 

Constitutional law to accept that exposition of it 
which had been, or mig-ht be, g-iven by the judicial 
authorities. He started at this, became excited, and 
violently declared he would do no such thing-." 

This was the real issue, clearly and sharply 
defined — the issue to which slavery, and every other 
question, was subordinate. The South only asked to 
be assured that the country would be g-overned 
according- to the Constitution as expounded by the 
judicial authorities ; the chief exponent of the pur- 
poses of the party about to take the reins of g-overn- 
ment refused to pledg-e himself and the incoming- 
administration to so g-overn, even when assured that 
such a pledg-e would settle all trouble at once and 
forever. 

The South was dominated by the principle of law 
and order — the principle of conformity to the law- 
fully-established order, and the remedy of wrong-s in 
a lawful way ; the North was dominated b}^ what 
Wendell Phillips called the " Puritan Principle" — 
the principle of which he saw a g-lorious exemplar in 
the "hero-saint" who, at Harper's Ferry, "flung- 
himself ag-ainst the law and order of his time," and 
attempted to carry insurrection, outrag-e and murder 
into the peaceful homes of Virg-inia — the principle 
of those whose motto, as Mr. Phillips declared, was 
not "Law and Order," but "God and Justice," and 
who, in all their history, never hesitated to trample 
law and order in the dust to compel others to con- 



REMINISCENCES. 85 

form to their notions of God and justice. The claim 
of the South was : The Constitution must be obej^ed. 
Wherein it may be found wrong", amend it in the law- 
fully-prescribed way ; but, until it is thus amended, 
its provisions, as they stand, must be faithfully car- 
ried out. The claim of the dominant party in the 
North, as voiced bi^ Mr. Seward, was : "There is a 
law higher than the Constitution;" and, wherein the 
Constitution conflicts with that hig-her law, its pro- 
visions must be set at naug-ht. 

The statesmen of the South reasoned that, if the 
provision of the Constitution in reg-ard to slavery 
could be rig-htly violated on the g-round of a so-called 
hig-her law, its other provisions could, with equal 
rigfht, be violated on the same g^round ; that all Con- 
stitutional g-uaranties and safeg^uards would thus be 
rendered worthless ; and that, instead of a Govern- 
ment acting- as the ag-ent of sovereig-n States, and 
having- its powers clearly defined by the Constitution, 
we would thus come to have a Government defining- 
its own powers, exercising- sovereig-nty over the 
States, and doing- whatever it mig-ht judg-e to be 
necessary, expedient or rigfht. 

Hence, when it became clearly evident that the 
party elected to power intended to administer the 
Government on this hig-her-law theory, the Southern 
people felt that, in order to preserve the Constitu- 
tional Government inherited from their fathers, and 
hand it down unimpaired as a heritag-e to their chil- 



86 REMINISCENCES. 

dren, they must, in their capacity as sovereigrn 
States, resume the powers deleg-ated to the Federal 
Government, and form a new Union with the old 
Constitution as its org-anic law. 

My own State, the Old Dominion, cling-ing- to the 
hope that, in spite of fanaticism, Constitutional Gov- 
ernment mig-ht still be preserved in the old Union, 
did not at first join the seceding- States ; but, when 
the unlawful course pursued by the President showed 
that this hope was vain, she, as an Eng"lish writer 
has said, "renounced her fellowship with the West, 
which owed to her its being-; with the North, for 
which she had done and suffered more than all the 
Northern Colonies ; and calmly, leg-ally, decisively 
cast in her lot with the Southern Sisters, * * * 
because with them lay the rig-ht as everj^ man of 
whom America was proud had laid it down — the rig-ht 
defined by the pen of Jefferson, achieved bj^ the 
sword of Washing-ton, and maintained by Madison, 
Monroe, Randolph and Calhoun at the bar and in the 
Senate." 

Were these men disloyal ? Were thej^ rebels and 
traitors ? Verily, nay. 

Bear in mind, if you please, that the issue thus 
raised is politically as dead as the British tax on tea; 
and, hence, can not possibly involv^e any question of 
loyalty to the existing- Government. When the men 
■of the South laid down their arms, they accepted the 
results of the war in g-ood faith. In g-ood faith, some- 



REMINISCENCES. 87 

times under the most trying- conditions, they have 
abided by them from that hour to this. They intend 
stil] to abide by them. The question, then, is not 
whether they are disloyal to the Government as it 
exists to-day, but whether they were disloyal to the 
Government as it was established by our fathers, and 
as it existed prior to 1861. It is a purely historical 
question; and I think the impartial historian must 
say that, if the war between the sections may prop- 
erly be termed a war of rebellion, the rebels lived 
north of the Potomac. It was there that the doctrine 
of a law hig-her than the Constitution was enunciated; 
it was there that the Constitution was declared to be 
"a covenant with death and an agreement with 
hell;" it was there that fanatical reformers and 
ambitious politicians preached "disobedience to the 
Constitution as a duty, and contempt for it as a 
patriotic sentiment;" it was there that the people, 
in mass -meeting's assembled, adopted resolutions 
pledging- themselves to resist unto the uttermost 
any attempt to carry out the plain Constitutional 
provisions for the rendition of fugitive slaves— reso- 
lutions w^hich their g-reatest statesman, Daniel Web- 
ster, declared to be "distinctly treasonable," and 
tantamount to "levying war ag'ainst the Govern- 
ment;" it was there that State legislatures enacted 
laws to make that provision of the Constitution a 
nullity — laws which the statesmen of the South 
deemed important, not because they sheltered the 



88 REMINISCENCES. 

fug-itive, but because they rejected the authority of 
the Constitution ; it was there that the country's 
flagf, when it stood for the carrying" out of that pro- 
vision of tlie Constitution, was spurned as a "flaunt- 
ing- lie " that should be torn down, and a "polluted 
rag- " that should be permitted to insult no sunny 
sky ; it was there, if anj^where, that the standard of 
rebellion was raised. The men of the South were 
absolutely loyal to the Government as it was organ- 
ized and had been administered from the beg-inning. 
They were upholding the fundamental law of the 
land against the advocates of a new nationalism, 
who proposed to substitute their ideas of justice and 
rig-ht for that law. 

When the Southern people became convinced that 
they must withdraw from the Union to preserve the 
Constitutional Government inherited from their 
fathers, they desired to do so peaceablj^ ; but Presi- 
dent Lincoln, introducing the hig-her-law policy into 
the Government of the United States, as Mr. Seward 
had predicted that he would do, usurped the war- 
making- power, and forced war upon them. That, in 
sending vessels of war to forcibly enter Charleston 
Harbor, which led to the bombardment of Sumter, 
and in afterwards calling out the militia, Mr. Lincoln 
did exceed the authority vested in the President, did 
usurp the war-making power, and did set his judg- 
ment of the needs of the hour above the law of the 
land, is unquestionable. On this point, permit me to 



REMINISCENCES. 89 

quote the testimony of two of the ablest and most 
eminent statesmen of the North. In 1832, when it 
was thoug-ht by some that the President would 
employ the military to enforce the laws in South 
Carolina, Daniel Webster, in a speech at Worcester, 
Massachusetts, said : " For one, sir, I raise mj^ voice 
beforehand agfainst the unauthorized employment of 
the military, and ag"ainst superseding" the laws by an 
armed force, under pretense of putting- down nullifi- 
cation. The President has no authority to blockade 
Charleston. The President has no authority to use 
the military until he shall be duly required so to do 
by law, and b^^ the civil authorities. His dut}^ is to 
support the civil authorit3^ His duty is, if the laws 
be resisted, to employ the military force of the coun- 
try, if necessary, for their support and execution; 
but to do all this in compliance only with law, and 
with decisions of tlie tribunals." In March, 1861, 
Senator Doug-las, in a speech defining- the power of 
the President to use the military to enforce the laws 
of the United States, said : " The military can not 
be used in any case whatever, except in aid of civil 
process to assist the Marshal to execute a writ." 

That Mr. Webster and Mr. Doug-las understood 
and correctly stated the law in the case, can not be 
denied. Yet, while the President had no lawful 
authority to use the military except in "compliance 
with decisions of the tribunals," as Mr. Webster 
declared, and except " in aid of civil process to assist 



90 REMINISCENCES. 

the Marshal to execute a writ," as Mr. Doug-las 
declared, President Lincoln, without waiting- for the 
decision of any tribunal, without any civil process, 
without any writ or any Marshal in all the South 
to execute it, called for 75,000 men to invade the 
South and put down an alleg-ed insurrection. He 
thus violated the law which his oath of office required 
him to support, and, assuming- the power of an auto- 
crat, made his judg-ment and will the law of the land. 

But for this unlawful procedure it is safe to say 
there would have been no war. This, by placing the 
Southern people in a position in which they were 
compelled to take up arms in self-defense, made war 
inevitable ; and I hold that the responsibility for the 
war, with all the blood and treasure that it cost, and 
all the desolation and ruin that it wrought, justly 
rests upon Abraham Lincoln and his advisers. 

That the men of the South, when war was thus 
forced upon them, foug-ht valiantly, no one will deny. 
'■ Full in the front of war they stood," and displayed 
a gallantry so splendid — a courage so superb — that 
it g-ave a new and brig-hter luster to the annals of 
heroism. They were peerless soldiers — those poorly 
equipped, half-clad and less than half-fed men in 
gray, who so long held aloft the battle-flag: of the 
South ag-ainst such tremendous odds. Even Northern 
historians, in describing them, have been constrained 
to use such adjectives as " mag-nificent " and "in- 
comparable," and every paean to the Grand Army of 



REMINISCENCES. 91 

tlie Republic — every g"lorification of the two million 
eig-ht hundred thousand Northern soldiers who were 
mustered into service to overwhelm the South — indi- 
rectly proclaims the greater g"lory of the six hundred 
thousand Southern soldiers whom it took them four 
years to overcome. 

I do not mean to disparag^e the valor of the North- 
ern soldiers. As an eye-witness I can testify to their 
courag"e. I honor the valor of the men who so stub- 
bornly resisted the onslaug-hts of Lee's leg-ions in the 
battles around Richmond ; who threw themselves, 
with such reckless daring-, ag-ainst the almost im- 
preg-nable Confederate position at Marye's Hill ; who 
foug-ht so fiercely at Chickamaug-a, and who charg-ed 
so g-allantly up the slope of Lookout Mountain. They 
■were foemen worthy of any army's steel. But the 
fact remains that, in the war, the soldiers of the 
South won the larger measure of g■lor3^ 

But, notwithstanding- its justice and the valor of 
its defenders, the cause for which the South foug-ht 
was lost. When thousands of her bravest and best 
had been swept down by the red blasts of war ; when 
her ranks were so depleted that she could no long-er 
muster men enoug-h to form more than a skirmish 
line along- the extended and doubly- manned front of 
the enemy ; when her resources were so exhausted 
that she could no long-er feed the remnant of her 
brave defenders ; when her powers of resistance were 
so weakened that to prolong- the strug-g-le could be 



92 REMINISCENCES. 

only a vain and criminal sacrifice of life, the flag" 
which her sons had borne to victory on so many 
fields, and wreathed with imperishable g"lor3% was 
lowered in surrender. 

But, as Confederate Veterans, we may still lift our 
heads and face the world without shame. We may 
still be proud of "The Great Confederate South, '^ 
which we served, for — 

" * * * her dead died bravely for the right. 

The folded flag is stainless still ; the broken sword is bright ; 
No blot Is on her record found ; no treason soils her fame." 

And when her story is truthfully written, it will 

"* * * bear 
This blazon to the last of times ; 
No nation rose so white and fair, 
Or fell so pure of crimes." 

When the Confederacy fell, the Republic formed 
by the Fathers and composed of sovereig-n States in 
Federation, perished. The States were robbed of 
their independence. In fact, if not in name, they 
ceased to be sovereign, and became subject provinces, 
whose people owe their highest political allegiance, 
not to them, but to a centralized national authority. 
They tell us that it is best ; that the Government 
established by the Fathers, under which the States 
retained their sovereignt}'^ and were united by com- 
pact, served well enough in the beginning, but could 
not meet the demands of new conditions resulting 
from the country's growth ; and that it was neces- 
sary to lose the sovereignty of the States in the 



REMINISCENCES. 93 

sovereig-nty of the nation, in order that we rnig-ht 
become a great world-power and successfully com- 
pete with the king"doms of the earth for political and 
commercial supremac3^ It may be so; but I beseech 
5rou to pardon an old Confederate soldier, who is 
perhaps blinded by memories that sometimes fill his 
eyes with tears, if he can not see it so ; and believ- 
ing-, as history teaches, that patriotism is most ar- 
dent and freedom most secure in small communities, 
would to-day rather hiive his own State as his 
crowned queen, and owe to her his hig-hest political 
alleg-iance, than be a subject of the mig-htiest, 
richest and most g-lorious Empire that ever was or 
can be reared by the wisdom and power of man. 



94 reminiscences. 

Selections from "Some Truths of History" — 
A Vindication of the South against the 
Encyclopedia Britannica and Other Malign- 
ers, by Thaddeus K. Oglesby. 



The Two Sides. 

In 1861 the American Union was composed of 
thirty-three States, joined in a voluntar3'^ political 
association, partnership, or g^overnment, styled 
"The United States of America." The people of 
eleven of these States, numbering- about 5,000,000, 
having- found that, under that government, their 
safety and happiness, their peace and tranquility, 
■were constantly and seriously threatened, and dis- 
turbed instead of being- secured, decided to institute 
a new g-overnment, one that to them seemed more 
likely than the existing one to effect their safetj^ and 
happiness. In accordance with the principle enun- 
ciated by the Declaration of Independence, which I 
have quoted, they instituted such new government, 
which was styled "The Confederate States of 
America;" and, in detiance and subversion of that 
principle, the people of the other States of the 
Union, numbering about 22,000,000, said that the 
people of the eleven States did not have the right to 
institute a new government to secure their happi- 



REMINISCENCES. 95 

ness, and made war ag-ainst the people of the eleven 
States to compel them to renounce and abolish the 
g-overnment of their choice and come back and re- 
main under the g-overnment from which they had 
withdrawn because it had ceased to secure to them 
the ends for which it was instituted. 

So it was that there came about the war between 
the States; eleven on one side, with 5,000,000 people, 
fig'hting'/or the principle of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence on which the government of the United 
States w^as itself founded; and tw^enty-two on the 
other side, with 22,000,000 people, lighting- against it. 
The 22,000,000 overcame the 5,000,000, after four 
years' fighting-, and the barbarous treatment of Jef- 
ferson Davis was due, as I have said, to the fact 
that he was the leader of the vanquished side. He 
was charged with having- committed treason against 
the twenty-two States in joining the eleven States 
in their struggle to maintain the principle of the 
Declaration of Independence, but as, in doing- so, he 
acted in conformity to the will and in obedience to 
the call of his own State, and as one State cannot 
commit treason ag-ainst another State, the absurdity 
of the charg-e is apparent. Every well-informed 
person knew that it had no foundation in law or in 
fact. Unless the State of Mississippi could be law- 
fully convicted of treason against coequal, associate 
States, Jefferson Davis, a citizen of that State, 
could not be lawfuUv convicted of treason for re- 



96 REMINISCENCES. 

maining- loyal to Mississippi instead of transferring- 
his alleg-iance to tlie States that were making- war 
on her. 

WOULD NEVER TRY HIM. 

At the end of an imprisonment of two years, Mr. 
Davis was released on bail, the bond being- $100,000, 
and his bondsmen were Horace Greely, Gerrit 
Smith and Cornelius Vanderbilt, all citizens of New 
York. He was never brought to trial for "treason" 
or anything- else, though he eag-erly wished and con- 
stantly urg-ed a trial. The United States g-overn- 
ment would never put to the test of an investig-ation, 
in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the 
land, the question whether or not he had committed 
treason ag-ainst that g-overnment. It was a test he 
g-reatly desired, and he was g-reatly disappointed at 
the g-overnment 's declining- it. Had he been tried 
for treason the issue presented to the Supreme 
Court of the United States would have been pre- 
cisely the same which was arg-ued by Calhoun and 
Webster, precisely the same which was foug-ht by 
Lee and Grant. That issue required an answer to 
the question: Did the States have a rig-ht to secede V 
For if the States had no rig-ht to secede, Jefferson 
Davis was a traitor. If they had a rig-ht to secede, 
he was a patriot. This question the political heads 
of the g-overnment feared to submit to its own 
tribunal, well remembering- that in the Dred Scott 



REMINISCENCES. 97 

decision that tribunal itself had placed the seal of 
constitutionality upon the principles for which the 
Southern statesmen and people stood. By the re- 
lease, without trial, of Mr. Davis, the world was 
informed that the United States g-overnment feared 
to imperil in the courts of reason what it had g-ained 
on the field of battle, and the result was a judgment 
by default, against the United States, that whereas 
the right of secession now no longer exists, never- 
theless and notwithstanding, the right of secession 
did exist, and Mr. Davis was not a traitor, but a 
patriot. 



The following extracts are from a pamphlet on 
The Destruction of Columbia, South Carolina, writ- 
ten and published in 1865, by the gifted and accom- 
plished William Gilmore Simms, LL. D.: 



The destruction of Atlanta, the pillaging and 
burning of other towns of Georgia, and the subse- 
quent devastation along the march of the Federal 
army through Georgia, gave sufficient earnest of the 
treatment to be anticipated by South Carolina 
should the same commander be permitted to make 
a like progress in our State. 

(8) 



98 • REMINISCENCES. 

Half naked people cowered from the winter under 
bush-tents in the thickets, under the eaves of houses, 
under the railroad sheds, and in old cars left them 
along" the route. All these repeated the same story 
of sufferingf, violence, povert3% and nakedness. 
Habitation after habitation, village after village — 
one sending- up its signal flames to the other, pre- 
saging for it the same fate — lighted the winter and 
midnight sk3' with crimson horrors. 



No language can describe, nor can anj^ catalogue 
furnish an adequate detail of the wide-spread de- 
struction of homes and property. Granaries were 
emptied, and where the grain was not carried off it 
was strewn to waste under the feet of the cavalry 
or consigned to the lire which consumed the dweH- 
ing. The negroes were robbed equally with the 
whites of food and clothing. The roads were cov- 
ered with butchered cattle, hogs, mules and the 
costliest furniture. Valuable cabinets, rich pianos, 
were not only hewn to pieces, but bottles of ink, 
turpentine, oil, whatever could efface or destroy was 
employed to detile and ruin. Horses were ridden 
into tlie houses. People were forced from their beds 
to permit the search after hidden treasures. 



In a number of cases the guards provided for the 
citizens were among the most active plunderers; 
were quick to betray their trusts, abandon their 



REMINISCENCES. 99 

posts, and bring- their comrades in to join in the 
g-eneral pillag-e. The most dexterous and adroit of 
these, it is the opinion of most persons, were cliiefly 
Eastern men, or men of immediate Eastern orig-in. 

But the reig-n of terror did not fairly begin till 
night. In some instances', where parties complained 
of the misrule and robbery, their guards said to 
them, with a chuckle: "This is nothing. Wait till 
to-night and you'll see h — 1." 



The pistol to the bosom or head of woman, the 
patient mother, the trembling^ daug-hter, was the 
ordinary introduction to the demand: "Your g-old, 
silver, watch, jewels!" They gave no time, allowed 
no pause or hesitation. It was in vain that the 
woman offered her keys, or proceeded to open 
drawer or wardrobe, or cabinet or trunk. It was 
dashed to pieces by axe or gun butt, with the cry, 
"We have a shorter way than that!" It was in vain 
that she pleaded to spare her furniture, and she 
would give up all its contents. All the precious 
thing-s of a family; such as the heart loves to pore on 
in quiet hours when alone with memory — the dear 
miniature, the photograph, the portrait — these were 
dashed to pieces, crushed under foot, and the more 
the trembler pleaded for the object so precious, the 
more violent the rage which destroyed it. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



T ATTENDED the Confederate Reunion at Houston 
•'• Texas, in 1895 (since then Richmond, Va., 
Nashville, Tenn., Charleston, S. C, Dallas, Tex., 
New Orleans, La., Birming-ham, Ala., Memphis, 
Tenn., and Mobile, Ala.) I never saw as g-rand an 
ovation gfiven anyone on any occasion as was 
accorded to Winnie Davis, Daug-hter of the Confed- 
eracy, when presented on the stag"e by General 
Gordon, who appointed a Serg-eant at Arms from 
each state to preserve order. I represented Georgfia. 
The sig-ht of Winnie created g-reat enthusiasm and 
inspiration of the occasion. General Gordon vainly 
using- his g^avel and shouting- that the Serg-eants 
at Arms must keep order, to which I replied: 
"Nobody wants order as long as Winnie Davis is in 
sight." 

"Around her shone the light of love, the purity of grace, 
The mind, the music breathing from her face. 
The heart whose softness harmonized the whole. 
And, oh, that eye was within itself a soul." 

I was appointed by General S. D. Lee on his staff, 
and have followed him and his successors ever since. 
Bob Rutherford was at this reunion and owned the 
solid g-old massive stirrups belonging- to General 



REMINISCENCES. 101 

Santa Anna when lie surrendered at the battle of 
San Jacinto in 1836, which g-ave to Texas her inde- 
pendence. 

At the Richmond Reunion, in 1896, I had two 
charming- sisters from Suffolk, Va., with me at the 
reception tendered the Veterans in an auditorium 
seating- many thousands. On the stag-e was a choir 
of five hundred sing-ing- dear old familiar Southern 
melodies. My g-irls were on the two seats in front 
of me. When the band struck up "The Girl I Left 
behind Me" they stood up and, as those soul-stirring- 
strains swept that immense audience into a vast sea 
of enthusiasm, one of the girls asked me the name of 
the tune. I replied, " 'The Girl I Left behind Me,' 
but she has g-ot before me." On the stag-e sat Cor- 
poral Tanner, who had recently raised several 
thousand dollars among- his Northern friends and 
presented the entire amount to a Confederate 
Orphans' Home. At the proper time he hobbled to 
the front of the stag-e and delivered a g-rand address, 
pleading- that the North and South clasp hands 
across the bloody chasm, forever bury the hatchet 
in a common g-rave in Lethe's dark waters and with 
one God, one country, one flag-, live in love, peace 
and harmonj^ until rolling- years shall cease to move. 
He closed by saying: that he thoug-ht he had the 
right to preach the funeral of nearly half of his dead 
body that was buried in the g-rand old State of 
Virginia. That night I had with me at the Jeffer- 



102 REMINISCENCES. 

son Hotel the battle flag- of the Twelfth Georgfia 
Regiment, under which seven color bearers were 
killed in the battle of Sharpsburg. A strikingly 
handsome woman approached and asked what flag 
that was; I gave her its history, upon which she 
said: "May I kiss it?" "Certainly," I replied, and 
tore off a small piece and pinned it on her. Of 
course that brought on more talk. She then told 
me she was Mrs. Spencer from South Carolina; that 
she had but one brother and his name was Moultrie 
Dwight and that he was severely wounded in the 
first battle of Manassas. I told her I knew what 
she said was true; that her brother was my file 
leader and that as he fell I and another comrade 
took him to the litter corps a short distance in the 
rear — another strange incidence that proves the old 
adage: "You can never tell what a day may bring 
forth" (as Mrs. Day said when she presented to her 
husband twin daughters). 

My daughter was married to J. D. Burts, of Rus- 
sell County, Ala., February 18, 1896. On August 
7, 1897, a bright sunbeam cast its beautiful rays o'er 
their pathway and revealed to their happy gaze 
a daughter, who of course called for roof and 
rations. Her reasonable demands were immediately 
complied with. I promised the mother that start- 
ing with her birth I would give her a piece of silver 
on every birthday and every Christmas. I made the 
same promise for each of the four others that fol- 




Grand Papa and his Bright Light No. 5. 



REMINISCENCES. 103 

lowed in succession. On tlie birtli of the third 
daugrhter, I received the following- telegram from 
Eufaula, Ala.: 

"Spoons, spoons, spoons, spoons. 

J. D. BURTS." 

That was all, and thusly I soliloquized: "Can it 
be possible that I have a quartet of grand-daughters 
in Eufaula all at one time?" There are now live of 
these bright sunbeams of my life, with eighty- two 
pieces of silver and it has well nigh broke me. 

I farmed with my son-in-law in Russell County in 
1898, made a short crop and sold it for three or four 
cents per pound and have been broke ever since. 

I lived in Columbus the next two years, and my 
chief occupation was making love to my best girl 
who gave me the g-oose and married another fellow. 
How often it is the case that a woman surprises her- 
self and her friends by making an unwise decision 
on entering the state of matrimony; often marrying 
in haste, seeking to repent at leisure when it is too 
late to remedy the mistake. "Nuff sed" on matri- 
mony, specially when you ain't married. 



CHAPTER IX. 

[From Columbus, Ga., Enqnirer-Stw, May 2, 1897.] 

Eloquent Memorial Address. 



The Pull Text of the Splendid Effort of 
Mr. Robert Howard. 



As Delivered at Springer Opera House. 



The Gallant Old Confederate Veteran Makes 
a Bold and Manly Defense of the Lost 
Cause for Which the Southern Heroes 
Died. 

'T'HE memorial address for April 26th, 1897, was 
■■• delivered at Springier Opera House, by Mr. 
Robert Howard, himself a brave and g-allant Confed- 
erate Veteran. The exercises were beautiful and 
imposing-, and the opera house was tilled to its 
utmost capacity with interested spectators. 

Hon. Thomas W. Grimes introduced the orator of 
the day, in the following- brief, but well chosen 
remarks : 

"Ladies of the Memorial Association, Ladies and 
Gentlemen: As the years roll down the cycle of 



REMINISCENCES. 105 

time, let these memorial occasions be observed so 
long- as the rivers run to the sea and the clouds 
circle around our mountain tops. History furnishes 
no g^rander army of heroes than the brave Confed- 
erate soldiers who foug-ht under the sacred folds of 
yonder flag". God bless it! As the g-entle Cordelia 
said to King- Lear, 'My love is more richer than my 
tongue.' They felt the shock of battle and clash of 
arms while following its fortunes, and when over- 
powered by numbers, no true soldier 'crooked the 
preg-nant hinges of the knee that thrift might follow 
fawning.' They did more than this; they preserved 
their civilization. Such a soldier as this you find in 
the orator of this occasion, Mr. Robert Howard, 
whom, in behalf of the ladies of the Memorial 
Association, I now have the pleasure to introduce." 
At the conclusion of Mr. Grimes' remarks Mr. 
Howard stepped forward and proceeded with the 
address as follows: 



Ladies of the Memorial Association, Ladies and 
Gentlemen: To the hallowed cause for which we 
have assembled, without arrogating anything- to 
myself, am I indebted for this magnificent audience 
and its cordial greeting, and to you, noble women of 
the Ladies' Memorial Association of this city, I 
tender my heartfelt thanks for the high honor con- 
ferred upon me as your orator for the day, and I 



106 REMINISCENCES. 

trust you may have no cause for regret in your 
selection. 

"It Is not that Nature has shed o'er the scene 
Her purest crystal and brightest of green, 

'Tls not the soft magic of streamlet or hill, 
O! no— It Is something more exquisite still. 

'Tls that friends, the beloved of my bosom are near, 
Who make every dear scene of enchantment more dear, 
And who feel how the best charms of Nature Improve, 
When we see them reflected from looks that we love." 

Standing-, as it were, in the shadow of the home 
where these lips first lisped the word mother, I can 
truly say that for more than sixty years I have seen 
my life reflected from looks that I have loved, and 
still love, in Columbus, And now what means this 
sea of upturned faces, all ag-low with animation 
and expectation, ag"e with his wrinkles, burdens 
and cares; youth in her beauty, joys and smiles? 
The answer is in yon silent city of the dead where 
sleep the true, the brave. Time in his unerring" 
flig^ht has brougfht to us another sad anniversary, 
one commemorating- the downfall of a cause we held 
nearer and dearer than life itself, and one for which 
we freely sacrificed all save honor, true manhood 
and noble womanhood. To-day we meet once more 
at the shrine of hallowed love to the memory of our 
dead heroes, the g-randest, noblest army of martyrs 
the world has ever produced. 

"On fame's eternal camping ground 
Their silent tents are spread. 
And glory guards with solemn round 
The bivouac of the dead." 



REMINISCENCES. 107 

My theme will be of a cause thougfh lost, still 
rigfhteous, of arms whose brilliant achievements 
were and are yet the wonder and admiration of the 
ag^e, of men, the Confederate dead and their surviv- 
ing- comrades, whose deeds of valor, whose love of 
country, whose devotion to duty, and whose daunt- 
less courag-e find no parallel in the pag^es of history, 
either ancient or modern, and last, but by no means 
least, of the purest, noblest womanhood that ever 
g-raced God's creation — Dixie's peerless daug^hters. 

'Tis true that the war, that is, the real conflict of 
arms, closed thirty-two years ag-o to-day, that the 
dead past has in a measure buried its dead, but the 
harrowing- memories of the unholy and damnable 
crusade wag-ed ag-ainst us by a ruthless and implac- 
able foe, the outrag-es and wrong-s inflicted upon us 
during- the war, and yet many fold increased since, 
still live, and I would not stultify myself by asking- 
this audience to suffer these recollections to seek an 
everlasting burial in Lethe's dark waters with the 
lapse of thirty-two years; to do so would make me 
less than human and Divinity itself. The time has 
come when we should speak out in meeting and give 
in our experience among- the brethren and sisters 
as they do in St. Luke* when they think the devil is 
g-etting- the best of the figrht. Too long- have we re- 
mained silent on such occasions as the present, and 
apart from what they have been taught from histories 
written by Northern partisans, the generation that 

*St. Luke Methodist Church In Columbus, Ga. 



108 REMINISCENCES. 

has come upon the scene since the conflict closed know 
nothing-, comparatively speaking-, of the grandest 
drama of modern times, the causes leading- thereto, 
and what section of the country should be held re- 
sponsible for the most unjust, most inhuman and 
most diabolical war that has ever been wag-ed since 
the dawn of creation. • Cicero, in an ag-e long- since 
past, wisely and truly said that "it is the first 
and fundamental law of history that it should neither 
dare to say ani^thing- that is false, or fear to say 
anything- that is true, nor g-ive anj^ just suspicion of 
favor or disaffection." We of the South are willing- 
to rest the merits of our case upon history in every 
manner conforming- to this hig-h standard and we 
say let the truth be told. 

"Though the Heavens fall, 
And one eternal ruin swallow all, 
vice for a time may shine and virtue sigh; 
But truth, like Heaven's sun, plainly doih reveal. 
And scourge or crown what darkness did conceal." 

In lifting- the veil from the past that you may 
g-aze upon the dark and bloody pag-es, I do so in no 
spirit of hostility to the greneral g-overnment of 
which we are now a part, let it be understood from 
necessity, and not from choice. I would re-open 
no partially healed wounds to have them bleed 
afresh, and thus bleeding- ag-ain become more painful, 
but that this g-eneration may hear from an active 
participant in that g-ig-antic strug-g-le truths that 



REMINISCENCES. 109 

they have never as yet learned from the partial and 
utterly false histories that have been published from 
a Northern standpoint and taugfht in our schools. I 
shall "nothing- extenuate, or set down aug-ht in 
malice," but will "hew to the line, let the chips fall 
where they may," and in so doing- will state nothing 
but facts "as true as Holy Writ." 

Before the first hostile g-un fired in old Virg-inia, I 
was there at the front as a private Confederate 
soldier, waiting- the advance of the insolent foe. 
When the last one fired in North Carolina I was 
there, still a soldier, and had the war continued 
until this present time and I had not been numbered 
among- the slain, I would have been to-day with 
bared breast facing- a Yankee battery, instead of 
standing before this irresistible one of beautiful 
sparkling- eyes, and while I proved invulnerable to 
the former, a dart from the latter may yet pierce 
the vital part. According to Yankee parlance, I 
am an unreconstructed Rebel. I trust I may some 
day be resurrected and that in the beautiful Beyond 
I can say "all is well," but should I live until recon- 
structed as understood and enunciated by the masses 
of the North, and the little two for five dema- 
gog-ues and time serving sycophantic politicians 
of the South, seeking office and notoriety at the 
sacrifice of manhood by licking the hand that smites 
them, under the mock plea of policy, I will never 
die. I thank them for the appellation, unrecon- 



no REMINISCENCES. 

structed Rebel! 'Tis sweet music to my ear, and 
the epithet being- properly construed, means that 
I am just as different from them as lig"ht is from 
darkness, for if there are any two thing's on 
earth above all others that I would not be 
likened unto, they are war Yankees and Southern 
reneg-ades. And of all stenches polluting- creation, 
that emanating- from a Southern reneg-ade is to me 
the most loathsome. He stinks as he rots and he 
stinks as he rises. Here let me say that in discuss- 
ing- this subject my denunciations are intended and 
applicable only to the war element of the North, for 
there were during- the war thousands of g-ood men 
and noble women in that section, and there are yet 
equally as many. Ever and anon we see and hear 
of some little scalawag- Uriah Heap, under the in- 
spiration of mellow wine, prostituting- manhood — 
someone else's, however, for he has none of his own 
— by pandering- to Northern sentiment and fanati- 
cism, actually humbling himself in the dust, saying- 
to the North: "01 we are so g"lad you whipped us;" 
makes himself hoarse sing-ing- the praises and g-lories 
of the restored Union, loves the beauty and the 
g-randeur of the stars and stripes that float "o'er the 
land of the free and the home" of the demag-og-ue 
and office seeker, and says to "Old Glory:" "O, just 
let me touch your hem and I shall be saved — from 
hard work and g-et a fat job from the government." 
"All that glisters is not gold" nor is everything that 



REMINISCENCES. Ill 

wears breeches a man. I do really pity the little 
pusillanimous groody-g-ood Uriah Heaps; they are so 
very little that a whole team of them could play ball 
in a mustard seed, yet they feel as if they were of 
immense mag-nitude and hug-e preponderosit3^ Dis- 
turb not their sweet dreams lest you awaken them to 
the full realization of their utter nothing^ness. 
"Answer not a fool according- to his folly, lest he be 
wise in his own conceit." "I would rather be a toad 
and feed on the vapors of a dung-eon than such a 
one." I would sooner be a dog" and bay the moon 
than g-row and fatten at the sacrifice of manhood. 
Prom the bloodstained heig-bts of Gettysburg- on the 
East to the rolling- plains of the far West, from the 
icicles of the Northern lakes to the orang-e blooms of 
Florida, are the graves of countless thousands who, 
wearing- the g-ray, went early to their rest. 

"The cock's shrill clamor and the echoing horn, 
No more shall rouse them from their lonely bed; 
No children run to greet their sire's return, 
Nor climb his knee the envied kiss to share." 

And why these premature g-raves"? Why these 
widows who for more than thirty long-, weary, 
dreary years have mourned for their loved ones who 
proudly, g-randly, marched forth to battle to the 
sweet, familiar old strain of "The Girl I Left behind 
Me" and have never returned? Why these maimed, 
decrepit old veterans of many battles, strug-gfling- in 
their decline of life upon the ruins of their once 



112 REMINISCENCES. 

prosperous and happy country for a bare existence? 
Who is responsible for the blight with which our 
country has been cursedy "Shake not thy gfory locks 
at me. Thou can'st not say I did it." For the an- 
swer o-o to Plymouth Rock where landed the old 
Mayflower. She was the Iliad of all our woes, the 
Pandora's box from which sprang" all the ills and 
troubles with which this country has been afflicted. 
The seed there sown brougflit forth and developed in 
this country the same spirit that prompted the Puri- 
tans to leave old Eng-land and seek a home in New 
Eng-land. Their object in coming- here was to do as 
they pleased and to make everybody else do the same . 
In their greed for gold in the course of time, against 
the wishes and earnest protest of the South they 
introduced African slavery in this country, which is 
well known was the primary cause of the late war 
between the two sections. When the original thir- 
teen colonies, each as a sovereign state, formed a 
general government for mutual protection and bene- 
fit, slavery was recognized by the different states 
comprising the confederation, and was protected by 
each as well as by the general government. The 
slave trade was carried on exclusively by Northern 
men and Northern money. The very first vessel 
fitted out for the purpose was from Boston. Finally 
this trade by Southern votes in the National Con- 
gress was abolished and these sturdy old Puritans, 
being no longer able to steal with impunity their 



REMINISCENCES. 113 

brethren in Africa and sell them for shining- gfold to 
the South, and experience having- convinced them 
that this labor could not be made profitable to them, 
concluded to quit the nig-g-er business, and did so by 
selling- out, "lock, stock and barrel, little, big-, 
young- and old," to the South. If there was ever one 
freed bj'^ a Puritan or any of his race I've never as yet 
heard of it. This "in a nutshell" is the history of 
the North upon the nigg-er question, until the birth 
of abolitionism, which was conceived of the devil, 
brought forth in iniquity and nurtured upon sec- 
tional hate and blind fanaticism. Upon this issue 
the two sections widely differed, the South only con- 
tending- for and claiming that which was guaranteed 
to her under the original compact, the Constitution. 
For forty years she had for the sake of peace and 
harmony submitted to compromise after compromise 
in each of which her rights and liberties were more 
and more encroached upon. Beecher with his nigger 
mock auctions in his church, Horace Greeley daily 
thundering his Phillip! cs against the South, and her 
institutions — Lhcle Tom^s Cabin, Seward's Irrepressible 
Confiict, Helper's Im/pcndim/ Criftis, the pulpit with 
its false teachers and base preachers— all com- 
bined in their mad, reckless warfare upon the 
South, solidified the masses against her and made 
them more and more exacting- in their fanatical 
demands. In vain did the South plead for con- 
ciliation and peace for the sake of the Union, to be 



114 REMINISCENCES. 

told that the "Union was worth nothing- without a 
little blood lettingf." Eloquently did she appeal for 
the strict observance of the Constitution only to 
be told that the Constitution was "a leagfue with 
death and a covenant with hell," that there was 
a hig-her law which was that " might makes 
rig-ht." After forty years of ceaseless ag^itation 
this party of bitter hatred and blind fanaticism 
elected Lincoln as President upon a strictly sec- 
tional platform pledg-ed to leg"islate ag^ainst the 
interests, property, rights and equality of the South 
in the g"eneral g^overnment. The South having- 
exhausted every other remedy to maintain her 
rig-hts and liberties in the Union, as defined by the 
Constitution, as a last resort, exercised the inalien- 
able rig-ht of secession — a rigfht which up to that 
time had never been disputed. Hence the Southern 
States, each in its sovereign capacity, resumed the 
powers and rights origfinally deleg-ated to the 
g-eneral g-overnment and formed a g-overnment of 
her own. When Lincoln was inaugfurated as Presi- 
dent we had a gfovernment of our own in all of 
its departments, and at once appointed commis- 
sioners to confer with the Lincoln g-overnment 
and settle all questions at issue upon the basis 
of strict equity and exact justice; the chivalric 
and beloved Martin J. Crawford, of this city, 
being- one of these commissioners. This com- 
mission, of course, failed in the purpose for which it 



REMINISCENCES. 115 

was appointed, and the South accepted the g"agre of 
battle thrown by Lincoln. To have acted otherwise 
we would have been unworthy sons of noble sires. 
He who worships at duty's shrine can ne'er g-o 
wrong-; he who doubts at her call is a dastard, 
and he who hesitates to obey her higrh behests 
throug-h fear of consequences is an arrant coward 
and should be forever damned. The South did not 
want war, but it was war or base submission, and as 
true men, we accepted the former. We have no 
apologies to make, nothing to retract; we fought for 
what we knew was right at the time; we knew it 
then, we know it now, and will know it forever. 
And we feel that it was better by far to have fought 
and lost than never to have foug-ht at all. These 
are our sentiments and we want the North and the 
balance of mankind to know it. Who fired the first 
gnn in this unjust war? John Brown, at Harper's 
Perry; he was but the advance g^uard of McDowell, 
and his mig-hty host that following- two years later, 
appeared upon the historic plains of Manassas — the 
former met a rig^hteous retribution, as the State of 
Virginia hung- him and his murderous free hooters 
higher than Mordecai hung- the infamous Haman, 
and had the same justice been meted out to those of 
the latter, captured at the first battle of Manassas, 
the flag before 3^ou would to-day have been proudly 
and defiantly floating- upon every sea and to every 
breeze under high Heaven. Outlaws and murderers 



116 REMINISCENCES. 

are the same the world over, whether they come as 
few or as thousands, and when captured should 
summarily pay the penalty of their crimes. Apply- 
ing" the rule of true analysis, wherein did the latter 
differ from the former? Who fired the second g-un? 
Undoubtedly Lincoln, when he ordered Fort Sumter 
to be re-enforced after Seward, his Secretary of 
State, had solemnly pledjjed his honor to our com- 
missioners that it should be evacuated. "Faith as to 
Fort Sumpter kept, wait and see," said this arch 
fiend, and even at the very moment he was using- his 
duplicity, he Vs^as doing- his utmost to re-enforce the 
fort, that he mig-ht have the city of Charleston at 
his mercy. The midnig-ht burg-lar enters your house 
to rob and to murder, if necessary, to attain his 
object. Must you wait until he has plundered your 
castle before you fire? The immutable law of God 
and of man says no. "Self-preservation is the first 
law of nature," and in self-defense we proceeded to 
reduce the fort, to tear down the accursed emblem 
of a despot and usurper and hoist instead the "Bon- 
nie Blue Flag-," thus proclaiming- to the world the 
birth of a new nation. Will anyone not blinded by 
prejudice and partisanship dare say that we violated 
any law, either divine or human? We struck for 
the God-g-iven rig-ht of freedom and liberty, for the 
sanctity of our homes, the purity of our firesides and 
never since time begfan has there been a more rigfht- 
eous g-un fired than that of g-rand old Edmund Ruffin, 



REMINISCENCES. 117 

of Virg-inia, at Charleston, which announced to the 
world that we were men who would no long-er sub- 
mit to wrong- and injustice. Where did Lincoln find 
any law under the Constitution to call for seventy- 
five thousand troops, arm and equip them to coerce 
sovereig-n States? He was a perjurer, for he in- 
tentionally, wilfully and maliciously violated his 
oath of ofiice when he solemnly swore to defend and 
support the Constitution of the g'overnment and no 
sane man will deny the fact of his being- a usurper 
when he resorted to means that plunged this country 
into an internecine war. "Let no man trust the first 
false step of guilt; it hangs upon a precipice, whose 
steep descent in last perdition ends." Upon the 
altar of this one first step of g-uilt were immolated 
one million human lives, and the North should be 
held responsible by the world for the sacrifice of 
every one of these lives, and I believe a just God 
will so judge them. The North flaunts her hostile 
flag: of defiance in our face; she comes into our 
country with a sword in one hand and a torch in the 
other; she throws down the gauntlet of battle and 
the South, preferring- death to dishonor, girds her 
loins, prepares as best she can for the inevitable 
conflict, and calmly standing- on the defensive, 
awaits the advance of the ruthless invader. The 
noble Curtius leaping- into the yawning- abyss, that 
his beloved Rome mig-ht be free, g-ave no g-rander 
proof of sublime patriotism than did the sons of the 



118 REMINISCENCES. 

South when the loud tocsin of war summoned them 
to arms in defense of all that free men hold dear. 
Southern manhood, fully realizing" that life could 
never be too short which brougfht nothing- but wrong", 
injustice and oppression, that death could never 
come too soon if necessary in defending- their lib- 
erties and their firesides, at once respond to the 
call and service of their country and speedily gfo to 
the front, and alas, most of them are there yet in 
warriors' grraves. 

"They left the ploughshares In the mold, 
The flocks and herds without a fold; 
The sickle in the unshorn grain, 
The corn half garnered on the plain, 
And mustered in their simple dress, 
For wrongs to seek a strong redress. 
To right those wrongs, come weal, come woe, 
To perish— or o'ercome the foe." 

The world has never seen the equal of this g-rand 
army as it went forth from every section of the 
South to battle for their rig-hts and their liberties. 
Leonidas at Thermopylae, Caesar on the Rubicon, at 
the head of his leg-ions, whose eag-les flashed in the 
rising- and setting- sun; Bonaparte with the Imperial 
Guard at Austerlitz; Welling-ton at Waterloo, never 
commanded such troops as followed the matchless 
Lee, the invincible Jackson, the intrepid Johnston. 
"These are our jewels," said the Spartan mothers of 
the long- ag-o, in presenting- their sons to their coun- 
try's service and g-iving- to each his shield with their 



REMINISCENCES. 119 

parting- blessing- "with or on it," sent them forth in 
the defense of their liomes. 

The same spirit that prompted these ancient 
matrons to place their all upon the altar of their 
country found a responsive chord in the hearts of 
the noble women of the South when the heel of the 
despot polluted her sacred soil. Well do I remem- 
ber being on the outposts at Fairfax Court House, 
Virginia, thirty-six years ag-o, where I saw one of 
earth's fairest, noblest daug-hters, upon foaming 
steed, with dispatches in her silken tresses, inform- 
ing- us of McDowell's advance from Washington 
with his mig-hty host, and I thought then, as I do 
now, what were life without woman! 'Tis paradise 
with her; 'twould be purgatory without her. For 
weeks the press of the North had been daily thun- 
dering- "On to Richmond" — "Crush the rebellion in 
ninety days;" "What rig-ht have Rebels and traitors 
to live?" And now the g-rand army, numbering 
55,000, crossed the Potomac with banners streaming- 
and arms glistening, joyfully singingf: "John 
Brown's body lies mouldering- in the ground; but his 
soul g-oes marching- on," "We'll hang- Jeff Davison 
a sour apple tree," and interspersed now and then 
with "Yankee Doodle." These fit representatives 
of the so called "God and morality party" reached 
the plains of Manassas, where they touched the 
button and we did the rest. Here stood Johnston 
with seventeen thousand of the flower and chivalry 



120 REMINISCENCES. 

of the South, on their own soil to defend their fire- 
sides agfainst the advancing- host of fifty-five thous- 
and soldiers armed and equipped with everything- 
pertaining- to modern warfare. A bright and beau- 
tiful Sabbath morn it was when the booming 
artillery of the enemy announced that this mighty 
host of the North proposed to give the traitors and 
Rebels of the South a Sunday morning lesson on 
civilization and Christianity, and if it be true that 
"whom the gods would destroy they first make 
mad," the sequel on this occasion proved that there 
was a powerful sight of mighty mad people who had 
neglected to "keep holy the Sabbath day," and 
when the day closed, instead of having received a 
lesson from them on civilization, we had taught 
them one on the most improved art in scientific 
running and miscellaneous skedaddling. History 
has no record of so complete and so disgraceful a 
rout and defeat as this g-rand army of civilizers who 
boasted that they would crush the rebellion in 
ninety daj^s and hang the leaders as Rebels and 
traitors. The war is now on in earnest, and the 
North bending- every energy with her boundless re- 
sources, both at home and abroad, takes all means 
for its vigorous prosecution. The South, standing- 
strictly on the defensive, with no navy, her ports 
blockaded, has to rely entirely on her own limited 
resources. Nobl3^ grandly, did her people respond 
to every demand upon their patriotism, and for four 



REMINISCENCES. 121 

years maintained the unequal contest with a 
grandeur and sublimity the world never witnessed 
before or since. No grander type of manhood ever 
existed than that developed in the -Southern soldier. 
His love of country never grew less, defeat never 
discouraged him, victory never rendered him over- 
bearing; in battle as fearless as a lion, the battle 
ended, gentle as a dove, ministering to his wounded 
enemy as though he were a brother. In heat or in 
cold, sunshine or storm, day or night, bare-footed 
and ragged, often with parched corn only as his 
ration, whenever his name was called for duty he 
answered "Here." True as he was to his country in 
war, he is to-day as faithful to her traditions. As 
immutably as has stood Gibraltar for ages, so 
stands he, incorruptible, and is not for sale. In 
vain will you search the pages of history for a 
record as brilliant, as valiant as that of the South- 
ern armies. Contending again.st odds, both in men 
and resources, they achieved victory after victory 
on many a hard fought field that find no parallel in 
warfare, with an enrollment of six hundred thou- 
sand CLgainst three millions on the part of the North, 
victory perched upon our banner in every pitched 
battle of the war where the odds were not over- 
whelmingly against us. 'Tis literally true, as 
General Toombs said, "we wore ourselves out 
whipping them." Put us in the field to-morrow on 
the same issue, man for man, with equal arms, and 



122 REMINISCENCES. 

what we did not whip by dinner we would agree to eat 
for supper. Yet we were traitors, says the immacu- 
late North. Jefferson Davis, than whom a g-rander 
man never lived, a traitor? As well say Heaven's- 
sparkling- dewdrop shall no more kiss the blushing- 
rose to bring- forth her spotless beauty and matchless 
fragfrance. Lee, the Christian soldier, a traitor? 
Then let yonder god of the day withhold his life- 
giving- rays from creation. Stonewall Jackson a 
traitor? Then the silver queen of the night will no 
more revolve in her orbit. Our own "Old Rock,"* 
as gallant a soldier as ever drew a blade, a traitor? 
Then will God's midnight diamonds cease to 
twinkle. That grand army of barefooted, ragged 
heroes who went down to death amid the din 
and carnage of battle, in defense of the right, 
traitors? Then there were no patriots, were all 
such traitors as these. Then earth were a para- 
dise and "man's inhumanity to man would cease to 
make countless thousands mourn." Deathless as 
was the love of the Southern soldier for his country, 
no less sublime was the devotion and fortitude with 
which the women of the South sacrificed their all 
upon the altar of their country, and the brightest 
star that shines in the crown of the South receives 
its brilliancy from her pure womanhood. History, 
branding the South as "fit for strategems, treason 
and spoils," does it tell you that the war was van- 
dalism, outrage and robbery on the part of the 

•General Henry L. Banning. 



REMINISCENCES. 123 

North; that it basely violated all laws of civilized 
warfare? No one will dispute the fact. A Yankee 
bummer was never Icnown to pass but one thingf, 
and that was a red hot stove, and his only object in 
not appropriating- that was that it too forcibly re- 
minded him of his home in the hereafter where ice is 
unknown. Do you find in it Beast Butler's infamous 
official order turning- over the pure women of New 
Orleans, whose protectors were at the front, to the 
lust and outrag-es of his brutal hireling-s? Does it 
inform you that in Atlanta Sherman told her non- 
combatants that "war was the science of barbar- 
ism," and that he intended to wag-e it on that line, 
and actually did by forcing the thousands of help- 
less women and children from their homes into the 
chilling- blasts of November, with no shelter save 
the blue canopy of Heaven above them, no bed be- 
neath than mother earth, then firing^ the city left it 
in ashes? Do you read in it that his march from 
there to North Carolina could be traced by the 
houseless chimneys and smoking ruins of the de- 
fenseless, and that in Columbia feeble mothers with 
tender babes in their arms had to flee for their lives 
from homes fired over their heads? Do you read the 
fact that at Charleston unarmed, helpless prisoners 
of war were used as breastworks by being- placed on 
their vessels under fire from our g-uns to protect 
their cowardly carcasses? A fact that cannot be 
denied, and g-allant old Ed Johnson, the first colonel 



124 REMINISCENCES. 

of the immortal Twelfth Georg-ia Regfiment, of which 
that was the flagf,* was one of that human breast- 
work. It beg-grars belief; it staggfers credulity and 
yet is literally true; the picture is not overdrawn. 
If this is Northern civilization then define heathenish 
barbarism, Christians' preaching- "peace on earth, 
good will to men," and tell what are the fiends of 
the damned. Tell me that I must "clasp hands acro.ss 
the bloody chasm" and say to the North, "You were 
rig-ht, we were wrong, please forgive," that I must 
love the accursed flag- under which their crimes and 
outrag"es were committed and no reparation made 
therefor? Then must the great God above smile 
away my human and crown me divine. And now, 
with the lapse of four years of carnag^e and desola- 
tion, the very fountain of nature fails, our heroic 
armies having" fought through twenty-two hundred 
combats and battles with a valor, courage and en- 
durance unparalleled in the annals of time, succumb 
to means and resources. They are no longer physi- 
cally able to combat. With less than one hundred 
thousand men scattered throughout our entire terri- 
tory, confronted on all sides by two million or more 
of men, our cause became hopeless, long-er resistance 
to the inevitable useless. With nothing left but 
manhood and womanhood the South falls prone 
upon her shield and all is lost, lost and gfone forever. 
The battle scenes which the heroes of the South 
have painted, the memories which Confederate 

♦Pointing to the old flag on the stage. 



REMINISCENCES. 126 

valor, loyalty and endurance have bequeathed, the 
blessed recollections which the pious labors, the 
saintly ministrations and the more than Spartan in- 
spiration of the women of the South have embalmed 
will digfnify for all time the annals of the civilized 
world. We need not turn to Marathon nor Ther- 
mopylae to find warriors who have wreathed their 
brows with unfading chaplets, nor search the storied 
archives of Spartan valor for names that were not 
born to die. We need not rifle the mausoleums of 
Athens nor decipher the moss-grown cenotaphs of 
Rome to find the names of those who carved their 
way to glory through the fiery track of war and 
went up from battle and burning to their homes 
among the stars. In all the galaxy of fame there is 
no brighter constellation than that of the "Heroes 
of the Lost Cause." 

"Nothing need cover their high fame but Heaven; 
No pyramid set off their memories, 
But the eternal substance of their greatness to which 
I leave tliem." 

Well may our matchless leaders have said to their 
shattered ranks on disbanding them: 

"In vain, alas, In vain ye gallant few, 
From rank to rank your volleyed thunder flew; 
O, bloodiest picture in the book of time, 
The South fell, unwept without a crime; 
Found not a generous friend, a pitying foe, 
Strength in her arm or mercy in her woe- 
Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear, 
Closed her bright eye and curbed her high career; 
Hope for a season bade the South farewell. 
And Freedom shrieked as Richmond fell." 



126 REMINISCENCES. 

Fallen, yes, bleedingf at every pore, the South 
furls her once triumphant banners o'er her deci- 
mated legfions. 

"Wide o'er the fields a waste of ruin laid, 
And not a rose of the wilderness left on Its stalk 
To tell where the garden had been." 

The South, proud even in her desolation, noble in 
her decline, venerable in the majesty of her religfion, 
calm as in the composure of death, with no tingle of 
shame resting- upon her fair brow, conscious of her 
own rectitude, detiantly points to Iier record, as 
white as the everlasting- snows on Alpine heights 
and says to hig-h Heaven "these hands are guiltless 
of innocent blood," and the angelic hosts with loud 
acclaim shout "Amen." And now commences an era 
in the history of this gfovernment which, for the 
sake of American manhood, I fain would blot from 
memory's pag-e, but like Banquo's ghost, it will not 
down. Conquered provinces, says the vindictive, 
frenzied North, though the leopard has not changed 
his spots, yet with the blood of one million men, 
we have washed the skin of the Ethiopian "whiter 
than snow," now it shall be "black heels on white 
necks," vice over virtue, ig-norance over intelli- 
g-ence, and perfect pandemonium shall reig-n su- 
preme. And well do they carrj'^ into effect their 
accursed reconstruction upon a people utterly 
powerless to resist. A click of the wire from 
Washington abolishes State Governments and mill- 



REMINISCENCES. 127 

tary satraps, ruling" with an iron rod substituted in- 
stead, State Legfislatures dispersed by Federal 
bayonets, our entire country gfarrisoned by a brutal 
soldiery, in many places by niggfer soldiers, as was 
the case in your fair city, our women forced from the 
sidewalks into the mud of the streets, marched to 
headquarters of the little despot at the point of the 
bayonet for any complaint by some worthless 
nigrgfer. The slime, filth and vermin from the 
^futters of doodledom with carpet-bagf in hand, 
swarm down upon the South as the locusts of an- 
cient Egrj^pt to become our law-makers and rulers, 
backed b^'- the United States Army, to enforce their 
arbitrary, vindictive, usurpation. The}^ at once 
commence to plunder, rob and steal what little their 
illustrious forerunners of the Yankee Army had 
failed to find. They imagined themselves lions, 
when really they were not fourth- rate skunks. They 
strutted the earth as lords of creation, boasting that 
they held the purse strings of the conquered South, 
with options on corner lots in Heaven. To vote we 
had to have a certificate from registrars, many of 
whom were ignorant niggers, not knowing a D from 
a Dardar, who signed his printed certificate with his 
mark. Federal bayonets became a necessary con- 
comitant at the ballot box in order to insure a "free 
ballot and a fair count." A three days' election is 
ordered for governor; we vote for our gallant and 
dauntless old soldier, Gordon, and the grand sachem 



128 REMINISCENCES. 

of scalawag^ism, Bullock, heads the other ticket; 
when the election ended and the ballots were counted, 
Bullock had something- less than ten millions and 
Gordon at least seventeen or thirty votes. This 
grand apostle of reconstruction takes charg-e of the 
State as g^overnor, and with the pack of thieves and 
plunderers at his beck and call, indeed rolled so hig-h 
and in such corruption and rottenness, that he left 
the State before his term of office expired to escape 
impeachment. And now we elect as g-overnor that 
"rock-ribbed" Democrat, the incorruptible white 
man, James M. Smith — All honor to his spotless 
memory! — and with his wise, just and honest ad- 
ministration, reconstruction and carpet-bag^ism took 
their fiig-ht, and where they once roared as lions, 
they do not even yelp as iices. There, you war 
people of the North, is your record of blood, crime, 
outrag-e and wrong-, and until rolling- years shall 
cease to move, until Heaven's archang-el, with 
trumpet tong-ue, shall sound the end of time, it will 
stand a monument of infamy, black, damnable in- 
famy from which future g-enerations will give the lie 
to your boasted civilization, your hig-h culture and 
your Pharisaical relig-iou. So much of the past; 
what of the future? Is there a silver lining- to the 
cloud that has so long- overshadowed us? Will our 
late foes ever have manhood to do even justice to us 
as a people? Will wisdom, justice and moderation 
so g-uide the "Old Ship of State" that she may be 



REMINISCENCES. 129 

safely and securely anchored to her mooring-s under 
the Constitution, as established by its founders? 
The answer is with the future. If yea, then in this 
country 

"Peace will hold her easy sway 
And man forget his brother man to slay." 

And thus proving- ourselves g-reater in peace than 
in war, we will truly exclaim that this is still our 
country. "Zealous, yet modest, innocent though 
free, patient of toil, serene amidst alarms; inflexible 
in faith, invincible in arms." If nay, then an 
avenging- Nemesis will haunt the footsteps of those 
who would longer prevent this from becoming- the 
g-randest, greatest g-overnment on earth, for "curses, 
like chickens, will come home to roost." 

Guards, Pencibles,* God forbid you should ever be 
called upon to face the fiery ordeal of war. If in the 
future, however, duty shall call upon you as it did 
upon us thirty-six years ago, forget not whose sons 
you are, whose inheritance you possess, remember 
that he who for his country dies, shall find an honored 
g-rave . In peace or in war wear worthily the mantle 
of Southern manhood — which now drapes your stal- 
wart shoulders — the most precious leg-acy we can 
bequeath you. We leave our record in your keeping-. 
Guard it as you would your own spotless honor; 
suffer neither falsehood or injustice to asperse our 
memory, and perish the infamous, foul charge that 
they who for Dixie died were either Rebels or 

•The local military companies, the Columbus Guards and the Browne 
Fenclbles, present In the audience. 
10 



130 REMINISCENCES. 

traitors. To the sainted spirits gfone to their reward 
and few noble co-workers is due the origfin of the 
beautiful and appropriate service that is to-day be- 
ing- celebrated througfhout the Southland. Thirty- 
one years ago to-day it had its birth in your temple 
of God, where the g-ifted Ramsey in matchless elo- 
quence painted the justice of the Southern cause 
and unrig-hted wrong from which we still suffer; 
true then, true now. Mothers, a duty no less sub- 
lime and grand now than in heroic past is yours still. 
Teach your children, as they climb your knees and 
hugf your bosoms, the blessing's of liberty; swear them 
at the altar as with their baptismal vows to be true 
to their country, and teach, O teach them, that in 
the late war the South was rig-ht, first, last and all 
the time, that she has lived rig-ht and will die rig-ht, 
and I know of no more suitable object lesson to 
inculcate this doctrine than to have the shadow of 
these immortal heroes who went down to a gflorious 
death in defense of liberty and self-g-overnment, in 
every household in Columbus, and kindly ask of this 
audience and entire community a liberal patronage 
in the purchase of this picture* for the benefit of the 
Ladies' Memorial Association of this city. Now, 
noble matrons and maidens fair, wend your way to 
"God's acre" and as you there wreathe these hal- 
lowed graves with earth's fairest garlands, remem- 
ber that not sweeter is their fragrance than death- 
less is the love of Dixie for its "Lost Cause," and 

*A picture of the survivors of the Columbus ^(Ja.) Guards at the close of 
the war in 1865. 



REMINISCENCES. 131 

that nowhere is it more true than in the South that 
"the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that 
rules the world." 

Grand old flag:; do I love it? Does the young- 
mother love her blue-eyed babe? Does the smile 
from its dimpled cheek, the first word, mamma, from 
its cherry lips arouse within her emotions which she 
cannot express? So does the sigfht of this flag- stir 
my heart to its very depths; its life thoug-h brief 
was brilliant, and imperishable fame will linger 
around its spotless folds as long: as true manhood 
and noble womanhood shall dig-nify life. Pull many 
a time, 'mid bayonets thrust and sabre strokes with 
countless minie-balls sing-ing hig^h alto to the death- 
making- bass of the booming- cannon have I seen it 
carried to victory. As we furled it in honor thirty- 
two years ag-o, so we agfain to-day fold it, stained 
only by the blood of its martyrs who died to defend 
it. 

"Then let fate do her worst, tliere are relics of joy. 
Bright scenes of the past, which she cannot destroy; 
Which come In the night time of sorrow and care 
And bring back the features that joy used to wear. 

"Long, long be my heart with such memories filled, 
Like the vase in which roses have once been distilled. 
You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will. 
But the scent of the roses will cling to it still." 

And as a diamond whose brilliance neither time 
nor age can dim is a diamond forever, so will this 
flag and its hallowed memories live in this heart 



132 REMINISCENCES. 

until earth shall claim of me its dust, and "for Dixie, 
dear old Dixie," God knows I yet would lay me down 
and die. 

Comrades, battle-scarred veterans of many a hard 
foug^ht field, standing- hard by the echoless shore of 
time, we fully realize that with us the evening- shad- 
ows of life are fast g-atlieringf in the West; with most 
of us the frosts of more than three -score winters are 
daily whitening- locks that were once browner than 
the robin's breast, blacker than the raven's wing's. 
Thus are we admonished that ere long- at best we 
too shall join the silent majority of our comrades 
true and tried who have g-one before. Soon the last 
tattoo shall beat, the last reveille shall sound, duty 
discharg-ed, life's burdens soon to end, calmly and 
peacefully awaiting- the summons for the roll call in 
the g-reat hereafter, we will trust that each and 
every 

"Spirit will be winged by Heaven 
To fly at Infinite and reap Its reward, 
Where seraphs gather Immortality fast 
around the throne of God." 

And until then will we remember — 

"Sweet vale of Columbus, how calm can we rest. 
In thy bosom of shade with the friends we love best, 
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world shall cease. 
And our hearts like thy waters be mingled In peace." 



CHAPTER X. 



[The whole of this chapter Is taken from the little book "Memorial 
Day" giving "A History of the Origin of Memorial Day." This History 
was prepared and adopted by the Ladies' Memorial Association of 
Columbus, Georgia, who presented it to the Lizzie Rutherfui d Chapter 
of the Daughters of the Confederacy under whose direction it was 
published In 1898]. 



PREFACE. 

nPHE mission of the United Daug^hters of the 
■*• Confederacy is to record the deeds of the true 
and the brave, who bore the star-g"emmed cross of 
Dixie. It is therefore meet that the first work of the 
Lizzie Rutherford Chapter be a g"ift to the world of 
the story of tlie women who orig-inated that Sabbath 
of the South — Memorial T>a.y — which the nation has 
found so appropriate that it has incorporated it 
with its holidays under the name "Decoration Day." 
It was g-iven to this Chapter by the Ladies' Memor- 
ial Association of Columbus, Ga. — the mother to 
the thought,— on the thirty-second anniversary of 
its initial observance; given in the sig-ht and hearings 
of thousands who, before visiting the soldiers' 
graves on that day, had gathered to listen to the 
annual eulog-y pronounced in honor of the Wearers 
of the Gray; it was given under the seals of the only 
living witnesses of its birth and sponsors for its 



134 REMINISCENCES. 

baptism; gfiven in the hallowed presence of the few 
surviving" members of the Soldiers' Aid Society, 
who had dressed the wounds, smoothed the pillows, 
closed the eyes, and twined garlands for the martyrs 
of the Lost Cause. It was theirs to strew flowers 
for the soldiers; it is ours to strew immortelles for 
them. 

The Ladies' Memorial Association, like the 
Phoenix, rose from the Soldiers' Aid Society, which 
was consumed in the fires that burnt the Confed- 
eracy. The parent org"anization was born under the 
shadow of the altar in the Ba ptist Churchf of Colum- 
bus, on May 21, 1861, and its object was to per- 
form woman's part in the service of her country in 
time of war. 

The incomplete list, as shown on page 19* of this 
volume, admonishes us that the time to write the 
record has already been too long" delayed, and we 
now hasten to save the truth from oblivion. Note 
well the few surviving names from memory's tablet. 
They have been admired in our country's historic 
past. Younger generations will adore them in new 
strata as the River of Time wears down the valley 
walls of the future. The land of these women was 
neither a food-producing" nor a manufacturing" one, 
yet throug-h their pious ministrations and sacrificing- 
devotion, the hung"ry soldiers were fed and the 
destitute were clothed, though aged loved ones and 
helpless innocent children were often left in need. 

fNow known as the First Baptist Uhurch of Columbus, Ga. 
♦Page 165 In this volume of "Reminiscences." 



REMINISCENCES. 135 

At first the sick and wounded were cared for in 
the families of the members. As these multiplied, 
hospitals were established and supported. The 
ladies nursed the sick, fed the hungry and buried 
the dead. Day by day bad g-rew worse, food and 
clothing- scarce and scarcer grew. General Sherman 
was making his march through the Southland to the 
sea, leaving behind a desert of ashes. With homes 
devastated, hearts broken, hopes gone, fathers, hus- 
bands, brothers, sons and lovers killed, these 
patriotic women, with lips compressed, forced back 
their tears, gave away the bread they needed, wrote 
letters to distant and sorrowing soldier mothers, 
sent locks of hair to far away sweethearts of those 
whose dying hours they soothed, and with all this 
gave direction to the practical affairs of their home 
life in absence of husband and father. Bearing 
alike the burden of woman's devotion and man's 
care, they wrecked their health and died for their 
country. 

The last battle of the Civil War, east of the 
Mississippi River, was fought on the Alabama 
heights overlooking Columbus, Ga., on the night of 
April 16, 1865. The city was assaulted and, after 
it fell, was sacked and burned. When the smoke of 
war cleared away, where do we find these devoted 
women? Where were Mary Magdalene and the 
other Mary after the crucifixion? At the sepulcher 
with sweet spices. So these women come to the 



136 REMINISCENCES. 

soldiers' graves with choice plants and brig-ht flow- 
ers. One day, after a g-roup of them had been 
occupied in this loving- service, one sug-g-ested the 
adoption and dedication of a day, and of each recur- 
ring- anniversary^ to the decoration of the soldiers' 
g-raves. All were pleased with the thoug-ht, and at 
the next meeting- of the Soldiers' Aid Society it was 
acted upon so quickly that it seemed a simultaneous 
throb from the heart of each. The Soldiers' Aid 
Society became the Ladies' Memorial Association. 
The 26th of April, the anniversary of the surrender 
of General Joseph E. Johnston, was chosen and an 
order of ceremonies arrang-ed. The eloquent pen of 
the Secretary of the Memorial Association inspired 
the press and touched the hearts of the people. 
Like the hope that spread over the earth on the 
morning- of the Resurrection, so the soft lig-ht of 
this sentiment shone over Dixie, and when April 
came. Love wreathed her roses where the soldiers 
sleep. 

The North looked on, thoug-ht the custom g-ood, 
took it to herself and has hallowed it as she does 
her Thanksg-iving- oblig-ation. April was too early 
for her flowers, hence she set apart May 30th. In 
the Southwest the 26th of April finds Flora past 
her bloom, so in that section the day is earlier. 

Year by year the procession of Spring-, marching- 
up from the Gulf, halts at every mountain side and 
mead to salute the dead soldier with flowers. 



REMINISCENCES. 137 

That future g-enerations may know the truth as to 
the orig-in of the beautiful custom, this volume, 
under the auspices of this Chapter of the U. D. C, 
is g-iven to the world. 

Anna Caroline Benning, 
President of Lizzie Rutherjord Chapter, U. D. C. 
Columbus, Ga., July 1, 1898. 



Introductory Speech of Mr. Robert Howard 
ON Memorial Day, April 26, 1898, Presenting 
THE Orator of the Day. 

Ladies of the Memorial Association, Ladies and 
Gentlemen: A fearless defender of, and a baptized 
believer in, the righteousness of our more than 
righteous Lost Cause, needs no introduction to a 
Columbus audience, for nowhere in this broad, sunny 
land of "Dear Old Dixie" does he more live in the 
hearts of gallant men and fair, pure women, than 
here in the home of our grand, immortal "Old Rock" 
(General Henry L. Benning), and of those battle- 
scarred and war-worn veterans of many a hard 
fought field, and the home of our guardian angels, 
Lizzie Rutherford Ellis, Mary Ann Williams, Evelyn 
Carter, Martha Ann Patten, their noble and beloved 
survivors and co-workers. Though there has been 
a lapse of thirty- three years since the flag of the 
Confederacy went down, we turn to-day to the grand 
old emblem, and the hallowed cause it represented. 



138 REMINISCENCES. 

with the same deathless love with which we hailed 
its g'lorious birth when we unfurled it to the breezes 
of hig-h Heaven, and followed its spotless folds 
througfh its brief and brilliant life. So longf as the 
eagfle shall wingf its lofty fiig-ht to Alpine heigfhts; so 
longf as the babbling- brooks shall mingle their crystal 
waters with the mighty rivers, in their clear winding- 
to the sea; so long; as the breeze shall beat the 
billows' foam; so long- as true manhood and noble 
womanhood shall inspire pure patriotism and exalted 
citizenship — so long will Dixie's brave sons and peer- 
less daughters perpetuate and religiously observe 
this, our Memorial Day, in everlasting memory 
and love of our Confederate dead. On each sad 
anniversary, with earth's sweetest, fairest flowers we 
will wreathe the graves of our immortal heroes, 
who went down to glorious death amid the shock 
and carnag-e of battle in the heroic discharg-e of 
rig-hteous duty. 

Such a defender and believer as already alluded 
to, you have in your eloquent orator of the day, and 
well do I know that, but for his youthful years at 
the time, he too would have stood under the match- 
less Lee, shoulder to shoulder with his two gallant 
brothers, who sealed their devotion to their country's 
cause with their heart's last, best blood. And now, 
ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure of pre- 
senting- to you our honored fellow-citizen, the orator 
of the day, Mr. Henry R. Goetchius. 



REMINISCENCES. 139 

The Memorial, Oration 
Delivered at Springer Opera House, Colum- 
bus, Ga., April 26, 1898, by Hon. 
Henry R. Goetchius. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: On the 26th day of June, 
1862, which was one of the famous days when there 
was heavy fig-hting- about Richmond, the capital of 
the Confederacy, a young- soldier charg-ingf where the 
fig-ht was thickest, was struck by a minie ball. He 
fell, and the Colonel of his reg-iment being- near, ran 
to him, asking": "Are you hurt?" He replied: "Yes, 
throug-h the heart. Tell my mother I have fallen in 
the dischargee of my duty, and I die happy." A 
moment later his spirit lifted itself above the scene 
of smoke and battle, and blood and carnag-e, and 
took its flig-ht to the Great Beyond. That young- 
soldier was a member of the Columbus Guards, of 
your city. 

Two years later, in the memorable sieg-e of Peters- 
burg-, a line of Confederate troops of General Wrig-ht's 
brig-ade was charg-ing- throug-h a wooded space and 
across an open field, for the purpose of forcing- the 
enemy, a part of Hancock's command, back to their 
works. Just before this charg-e, and while the Con- 
federates were calmly waiting-, in order to g-ive them 
a close volley and then the charg-e, a young- soldier, 
grazing- intently upon the advancing- blue line, 
remarked to his comrade, "Those men have nothing- 



140 REMINISCENCES. 

at stake, while we have all to lose, and we must 
drive them back." Hardly had he spoken when 
there came a roar of musketry, the famous yell of 
Southern soldiers and the wild rush which drove the 
enemy out of the woods and back into their works 
and then out of them. As the young" hero entered 
the open, in this fatal charg-e, a rifle ball struck him 
in the breast and his comrade, to whom he had just 
before spoken, hearing- the dull, sickening- thud of 
the bullet, had only time to turn and see the young- 
soldier sink to his knees and then to the ground — 
dead, with a smile upon his face. That nig-ht he 
was buried in the trenches. The young soldier was 
a member of the City Light Guards, of your city. 
These two men were types of hundreds of thousands 
of private Confederate soldiers who fell in defense 
of the Lost Cause. 

One month ago, in the cabin of the steamer 
Olivette, in the port of Havana, just before the 
vessel sailed for Key West, there was g-athered a 
group of Americans to say farewell and extend a 
floral offering- to the brave commander of the ill fated 
battleship Maine. Near the flowers stood the 
Consul- General of the United States, who made the 
speech of presentation. In response thereto the 
commander spoke of the Consul-General as the per- 
sonification of bravery and good judgment, and 
added: "The United States has no better repre- 
sentative abroad than gallant Fitzhugh Lee, its 



REMINISCENCES. 141 

Consul-General at Havana." The same man fought 
bravely for the South through the great Civil War, 
and was one of the most gallant of her cavalry 
leaders. He is a type of the living Confederate 
Veteran. 

All honor to .such men, be they living or be they 
dead. The last generation of the North called them 
traitors and Rebels, and now seventy millions of 
people, without regard to section or party, honor 
the living traitors and are beginning to do justice 
to the heroic dead. 

Surely "truth is omnipotent and public justice 
certain?" 

This leads us to enquire of the motive which, in 
the great War between the States, led the men of 
the South to sacrifice their lives upon the altar of 
their country, or, if happily they escape death, to 
again be willing to so ably and patriotically serve 
the powers against which they once had fought. 
That motive was patriotism, the loftiest sentiment 
for which the human heart can beat, save love of 
God and truth. 

This is the sentiment which prompts to a love of 
country, without which there can be no human hap- 
piness. A man without a country to love is a man 
without home and loved ones. A man without a 
flag to which he can swear allegiance as the emblem 
of his country's protecting power, is a man without 
safety to his life, his liberty and his property. 



142 REMINISCENCES. 

The love of country is an ennobling- sentiment. 
It prompts to honor and to deeds of heroism and im- 
perishable renown. "Happy are they who have for 
the sublime and permanent basis of their gflory the 
love of country demonstrated by deeds," By this 
noble sentiment the armies of Napoleon lifted the 
eagfles of France to mingfle with the eag"les of the 
Alps, and the French standards were made to flutter 
in the shadow of the pyramids. By this sentiment 
Nelson, throug-h the mere wave of a sig-nal banner, 
inspired the British seamen with splendid courage 
as they moved their battleships into line against 
the advancing fleet of France and Spain. By this 
sentiment Washing^ton was led to take command of 
the American Army at the call of the Continental 
Congress, when he said no pecuniary consideration 
could induce him to accept such arduous labors. 

The Spartans taught their youth that love of 
country was a sentiment before which every private 
and personal feeling should be constrained to bow. 

When the great statesman of England, William 
Pitt, was on his death-bed, the news of the victories 
of Bonaparte at Ulm and Austerlitz was whispered 
to him. He lay in silence, and at last exclaimed in 
feeble voice, "Mj^ country, O, my country!" 
These were the last words which escaped the lips of 
the dying patriot. 

As Hampden fell before the onslaught of Prince 
Rupert, in the opening of the civil war against the 



REMINISCENCES. 143 

tyranny of Charles, he exclaimed: "O, God, save 
my bleeding- country!" 

But history furnishes no sublimer evidence of 
patriotism and love of country than was exhibited 
by the noble men of whom we would speak to-day. 
The most execrated of all men, b}^ his fellow- citizens 
and by posterity, is he who betrays his country, and 
the most honored of men is he who falls a blessed 
martyr to his country's cause. It was a common 
thing- for the enemies of the South to charg-e ag-ainst 
Southern soldiers the infamous crime of rebellion, 
and they were branded as traitors. At the close of 
hostilities the President of the Confederacy was 
thrown into chains and into prison, to be made a 
vicarious sacrifice for the sins of his people, and it 
was intended that he should be hung-. Similar steps 
were taken, happily not consummated, to incarce- 
rate the leader of the Confederate armies. Partak- 
ing- of this bitter and reveng-eful feeling, the histo- 
rians of the North have written and printed and 
have industriously circulated histories containing 
these charges. Their books are to-day sold in your 
cities, admitted into your homes, and taug-ht in your 
schools. In your own State of Georgia, and until 
recently in this patriotic city, which has contributed 
so much of blood and treasure and blessed memory 
to the Southern cause, the children are being- 
allowed to understand that the cause of the Con- 
federacy was the cause of traitors, and that those 



144 REMINISCENCES. 

who foug^ht for it were rebels. Can these things 
be and we remain silent? 

There are those in the South who say, "Let the 
dead past bury the dead." Such are not worthy the 
blood which courses througfh their veins, and, thank 
God, they are few. It should be the solemn duty of 
every true son and daug"hter of the South to refute 
the slander of "rebel and traitors." The cause of 
the Southern States was a rig-hteous cause, and 
those who fought therefor and those who fell in its 
defense were patriots. The people of this great 
section so felt when the alternative came to choose 
between their native State and the Federal power. 
Had they tamely and willingly submitted to the 
assumption of power, our great Republic would 
to-day be a despotism compared to which Russia 
would be a land of liberty. But they did not sub- 
mit, and, deeming their course a proper one, they 
sealed their sincerity with the richest treasure ever 
offered and the noblest holocaust ever consumed 
upon the altar of country. 

For what did the South fight? It was not for the 
institution of slavery. That was a mere incident in 
the great drama. Let the true answer ring from the 
lips of every Memorial orator for generations to 
come. Let it be burned into the page of living 
history, and let the present and the future ever hold 
it as a sacred truth. She fought to avert encroach- 
ments of usurped power, and to preserve the rights 



REMINISCENCES. 146 

of States and human liberty. She foug-ht for the 
spirit of local self-g-overnment, which is always the 
life-blood of liberty. I know there are some who 
tell us that we now have no States rigfhts. I will 
admit that by reason of the chang-ed conditions of 
the times, the methods of transportation and com- 
munication, that gfeogfraphical State lines are 
practically obliterated, but I assert that the rig-ht of 
local self-g-overnment in and by the individual 
States of this Union is not only more marked and 
well defined than it was in 1860, but it is on founda- 
tions as everlasting- as are the principles of which 
our national and state Constitutions are formed. 
The fig-ht was, therefore, not in vain. Was our 
cause truly a Lost Cause? Let the answer come 
even from the lips of the former enemies of the 
South; an answer made to-day, after the fires of hate 
have sunken to embers and the g-enerations which 
forced this cruel wrong- have been called to another 
world. Hear the answer from the learned and tlie 
eloquent of the North. 

A few weeks ag-o Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, presi- 
dent of Brown University, a leading- institution of 
learning- in a New Eng-land State, in a lecture de- 
livered in the city of New Orleans upon the life and 
character of the General of the Confederate armies, 
uttered this langfuag-e: 

"People are prone to allude to all Lee foug^ht for 
as the 'Lost Cause.' Yet, like Oliver Cromwell, Lee 



146 REMINISCENCES. 

has accomplished what he fought for, and more than 
could have been accomplished had he been vic- 
torious. At the close of the war we find the 
Supreme Court of the United States deciding- the 
status of individual States, and the result is found 
to be that while the Union is declared to be inde- 
structible, each State is regarded as an indestruct- 
ible unit of that nation. Who would dare to wipe 
out to-day a State's individuality? And do we not 
find to-day, instead of centralized power in Congress 
adjudicating things pertaining to the States, the 
States themselves settling these matters? 

"Inasmuch as the war brought out these utter- 
ances with regard to the States of the Union upon 
the matters then in question, who can say that 
Lee fought in vain?" 

Had President Andrews thus spoken or written 
within five j^ears after the surrender of the Con- 
federate armies at Appomattox, he would have im- 
mediately been discharged as unfit to instruct 
students of his University, and doubtless would 
have been arrested and tried for sedition. 

He speaks here, however, what time has forced 
upon him as an acknowledged truth. What the 
civilized world has long since accepted as true, and 
what history will record as true. What a spectacle, 
my countrymen! An instructor of New England 
youth, at the head of one of the largest of New Eng- 
land institutions of learning, preaching to the world 
that the principles for which Lee fought are 
essential to the welfare and existence of con- 



REMINISCENCES. 147 

stitutional g-overnment as established by the 
fathers. 

Surely, ''truth is omnipotent and public justice 
certain." 

Let it be remembered that the spark of this great 
Civil War was kindled in the bosom of New Eng-- 
land, and from thence fanned into flame by the 
political demagogues of the North. 

But hear again what this man, the cultured and 
thoughtful New Englander, says of the great Con- 
federate soldier who was but the type of the men 
whom he led through the battles of Virginia. Says 
Dr. Andrews in the same lecture, speaking of Gen- 
eral Lee: 

"Great as were the achievements of this man as a 
General, incomparably greater than his military 
genius was his grand and almost unmatched moral 
character. His unselfishness, his patience, his love 
of justice, all his attributes conspired to make him 
the embodiment of nobility. He held with Hamil- 
ton that there was nothing on earth great but man, 
and nothing greater in man than mind, and, indeed, 
he went further than the philosopher, holding that 
there was nothing great in mind except devotion to 
trust and duty." 

Thus comes the testimony and so grand was the 
character here described, the matchless attributes 
were reflected in the hearts and minds of the men 
who followed him. 



148 REMINISCENCES. 

Young- men and women of Columbus, let me say 
to you and throug"h you to all youngf men and women 
of our Southern country, to blot out from your 
minds the base teaching's that the blood which begot 
you was false to its country. And to you few who 
remain of the older g-eneration, who saw this de- 
votion to duty, let me say to you to honor the dead 
as an incentive to yourselves and to your children. 
You, who had the honor of participating- in the 
history of that period, prove yourselves worthy of 
that honor by teaching- such history to those who 
are to come after you. Let there be reform in your 
school histories. Permit no compromise of the 
truth, but let the statement of the facts be manly 
and fearless. Beyond what has been said, I will not 
endeavor on this occasion to speak in detail of the 
causes of the war between the states; nor shall I 
enter into an historical discussion of the g-reat 
events which led up to the strugg-le: neither is it my 
purpose to portray the movements of contending 
armies and an embattled field; nor shall I speak of 
those terrible days in which reason was affrig-hted 
from her seat and g-iddy prejudice took the rein: 
when the wheels of society were set in conflagration 
by their own motion: when many of our people were 
tried and condemned without being- judicially heard, 
and when conclusions were drawn from passion that 
should have been founded in proof. Let us not draw 
the veil which hides from view those terrible years 



REMINISCENCES. 149 

of war and desolation. Many in the sound of my 
voice will remember them. Then we could have 
exclaimed in the voice of the prophet of old: 

"We are orphans and fatherless and our mothers are widows. 
"Our necks are under persecution. 
"We labor and have no rest. 

"Servants have ruled over us. There Is none to deliver us oul of 
their hands." 

We are not here to-day to recall these sad scenes, 
but only to speak in honor of the dead, to point to the 
truth and justice of their cause and our cause, and 
to lay brigfht and tender flowers upon their g-raves. 

Thirty-two years agfo, when the noble women of 
this city realized that the cause for which their 
loved ones had fougfht and died, and for which they 
had suffered, was but a "pathetic inheritance, in 
which all the grandeur and the glory of the dead 
and the living, who survived, was to become only a 
sorrowing memory," they established this beautiful 
custom of Memorial Day, this annual tribute of 
eulogy and flowers. Eulog}?^ and flowers for great 
deeds which cannot die, but which with sun and 
moon renew their youth. 

The eulogy was an inspiration from the cultivated 
and patriotic Greek, for it was a law of the Athen- 
ians, that he who received his death while fighting 
with undaunted courage in the front of the battle, 
should have an annual oration spoken in his honor. 
The bringing of the flowers was an inspiration 
which came into the heart of a daughter of Colum- 



150 REMINISCENCES. 

bus, and was sugfgfested to her from the custom 
eatablished more than a thousand years ag"o by the 
head of the Roman Catholic Church, the custom of 
annually decorating- with flowers the graves of de- 
parted loved ones. 

This day, with its eulog-y and its flowers, is the 
monument which the daug-hters of the South have 
established in remembrance of Southern valor and 
patriotism; a monument which will endure so long" 
as Southern womanhood is pure and Southern man- 
hood is strong-; a monument which tells that the 
"mute tong-ue of the g-ranite shaft is not left alone 
to speak a tribute to their memory;" a monument 
more enduring- than this g-ranite, for it is a monu- 
ment of sig"hs from human hearts and flowers which 
spring from earth: sighs which link us with im- 
mortality, and flowers — 

"Those lights of God 
That through the sod 
Flash upward from the world beneath, 
And tell us In each subtle hue 
That life renewed Is passing through 
Our world, again to seek the skies, 
Its native realm of Paradise." 

Sacred is the duty to which the women of the South 
have consecrated their use, for they keep ever green 
in the hearts of all the memory of the departed. 

"The people for whom they fought were crushed, 
The hopes in which they trusted were shattered, 
The flag they loved no more guides their charging lines. 
But their fame, consigned to the keeping of that time which, 
Happily is nut so much the tomb of virtue as its shrine, 
Shall in the years to come fire modest worth to noble ends." 



REMINISCENCES. 151 

And to you, Ladies of the Memorial Association, 
you few survivors of that g-entle band who establish- 
ed Memorial Day, not only for the South, but for all 
this gfreat country (for the Northern States have 
adopted the custom in imitation of the South), and 
to you, daugfhters of these Memorial ladies, living- 
and dead — daugfhters of mothers who were Trojans 
in couragfe, Spartans in fortitude, and Romans in 
faith and self-sacrifice — I commend the keeping of 
this custom. In this sacred duty you have a lofty 
example. "It was the women of the Confederacy 
whose pious ministrations to the wounded soldiers 
soothed the last hours of those who died far from the 
object of their tenderest love. It was the women of 
the Confederacy whose domestic labors contributed 
so much to supply the wants of their defenders in the 
field, and whose faith in the Southern cause shone a 
guiding- star undimmed by the darl<:est clouds of war 
and whose fortitude sustained them under all the 
privations to which they were subjected." Such is 
the tribute of the first and only President of the 
Confederacy. There is one of their number who now 
sleeps in Linwood cemetery, in this city. Upon her 
grave is this inscription, placed there by the ladies 
of the Memorial Association of Columbus: 
"The Soldiers' Friend." 
"A loving tribute to our co-worker." 

"In her patriotic heart sprang the thought of our 
Memorial Day." 



152 REMINISCENCES. 

The leg-end tells what she was and what she did. 
Who dare invade the sanctity of the thoug-ht 
conveyed by these words? 

Ladies of the Columbus Chapter of the Georgia 
Division of the Daug-hters of the Confederacy, you 
have done me the honor to ask that I to-day conse- 
crate your Chapter under the honorable name which 
has been selected b}'' you that it should bear. It is 
the name inscribed with that legend. I am told 
that the object of j^our Association is to collect 
records and incidents of the Confederate War and 
preserve the truth of its cause and history, perpetu- 
ate the memories of the men who laid down their 
lives in that struggle, and lay before the rising- 
generation a fair, just and impartial account of 
their deeds. To this patriotic undertaking, in the 
presence of this assembled company, I now dedicate 
your order as "Lizzie Rutherford Chapter of 
THE Daughters of the Confederacy." Guard 
sacredly your trust, and under the inspiration of 
that name, the originator of Memorial Day, preserve 
the memory of the dead, for truly has it been said 
that a land without memories is a land without 
liberty. Let the mystic chords of memory, stretch- 
ing from every battlefield and patriot grave to every 
living hearthstone all over our Southern land, bind 
our hearts to loving service in honor of the sainted 
dead. 



REMINISCENCES. 153 

'Let not their glory be forgot 
While Fame her record keeps, 
Or Honor points the hallowed spot 
Where valor proudly sleeps." 



The following- is an extract from the Columbus 
Enquirer-Sun of May 1, 1898, and gfives an explana- 
tion of the personal references made in the Memo- 
rial Address of April 26, 1898: 

Touching Reference to Two Gallant 
Soldiers. 



Columbus Young Men are Referred to by Mr. 
GoETCHius — One was Lieut. James H. Ware, 
OP THE Columbus Guards, and the other 
William E. Goetchius, op the City Light 
Guards. 

In his beautiful address on Memorial Day, Mr. 
Henry R. Goetchius made reference in a very touch- 
ing- manner to the death of two young- soldiers from 
Columbus, while bravely charging the enemy — one 
a member of the Columbus Guards and the other of 
the City Light Guards. Tiie Enquirer-Suu under- 
stands that the member of the Columbus Guards 
referred to was James H. Ware, while the young 
soldier from the City Light Guards was William 
Edward Goetchius, a brother to Mr. Henry R. 
Goetchius. The following appeared in the Colum- 
bus Times, June 28th: 



154 REMINISCENCES. 

"The Sun, of yesterday, publishes the following- 
dispatch: 

"Richmond, Va., June 27, 1862.— /)/•. B. A. Ware: 
Your son James was killed last evening- in g^allantly 
charg-ing- the enemy's works. His body will be 
recovered, if possible. His last words to his 
Colonel were: 'Tell my mother I have fallen in the 
discharg-e of my duty, and die happy.' Dr. Ellison 
writes particulars to-day. 

RoswELL Ellis." 

Captain Roswell Ellis was in command of the 
Columbus Guards, and was afterwards married to 
Miss Lizzie Rutherford, who orig-inated Memorial 
Day. 

Adjutant Ware was slain near Richmond, Va. In 
commenting- on the dispatch quoted above, the Times 
says : 

"Adjutant Ware was connected with the Thirty- 
fifth Reg-iment, Georg-ia Volunteers. Mr. Ware was 
a native of our city, and was g-reatly beloved by all 
who knew him. In his death our community and 
the army have lost a young- man of g-reat promise." 

The young- soldier in the City Light Guards, 
William Edward Goetchius, of this city, left Ogfle- 
thorpe University, at Milledg-eville, Ga., to enter 
the army as soon as the war opened, being- 18 years 
of ag-e. He served throug-h the war until the date of 
his death, and without a furloug-h, fighting- in all the 
heavy battles in Virg-inia and at Gettysburg-. At 
this last battle he saw his oldest brother, John, left 



REMINISCENCES. 155 

on the field mortally wounded. He was instantly 
killed in a charg-e at Petersburg-, June 22, 1864. 
Mr. G. J. Peacock, of this city, who was a lieutenant 
in the City Light Guards, saw him fall. His body 
was buried in the trenches, and his remains were 
never recovered. Mr. Peacock, in speaking of him, 
says: "He combined the gentleness of a woman with 
the courage of a dauntless cavalier." 

The first Memorial Address ever delivered in the 
United States in honor of soldiers who fought in the 
Civil War, was delivered in Columbus, Ga., on 
April 26, 1866, by Hon. J. N. Ramsey, now deceased. 
He was a prominent lawyer of the city, an eloquent 
speaker, and had been a veteran of the war, with 
the rank of Colonel. The address was delivered in 
St. Luke Methodist Church, a historic building, 
which has recently been removed to give place to a 
modern structure. 



The Columbus Enquirer- Sun, on April 24, 1898, 
published the following list of orators of Memorial 
Day: 

Memorial Orators. 



Names of Those Who Have Delivered 
Addresses. 

The first Memorial address delivered in Columbus 
was by Col. J. N. Ramsey, in 1866, in St. Luke 
M. E. Church. 



156 REMINISCENCES. 

The second address, the following- year, was by 
Dr. E. P. Colzey, and was delivered at Temperance 
Hall. In 1868 and 1869, respectively, Maj. R. J. 
Moses and Judg-e J. F. Pou delivered the address at 
the old Cenotaph at the cemetery. This was a 
building- constructed of wood, with a dome-like roof, 
supported by six slender pillars, which rested on 
hexag-onal posts, some five feet hig-h. The structure 
was about thirty feet in heig-ht and painted white, 
with an arched roof, on which was inscribed the 
names of the officers and privates killed in the war. 
On the dome, on a small g-ilt circle, was the inscrip- 
tion of "General Semmes." In 1870 Hon. Thomas 
W. Grimes delivered the address at Temperance 
Hall. After that date the addresses were delivered 
at Spring-er Opera House. A complete list of the 
Memorial orators since the inaugnration of the cus- 
tom is as follows: 

MEMORIAL ORATORS. 

1866 Col. J. N. Ramsey. 

1867 Dr. E. P. Colzey. 

1868 Maj. R. J. Moses. 

1869 Judg-e Joseph P. Pou. 

1870 T. W. Grimes. 

1871 C. H. Williams. 

1872 Judg-e Wm. A. Little. 

1873 Capt. J.J. Slade. 

1874 Ex-Mayor Sam Cleg-horn. 



REMINISCENCES. 157 

1875 Thomas H. Hardeman. 

1876 Henry W. Hilliard. 

1877 Capt. J. R. McCleskey. 

1878 William H. Chambers. 

1879 Gov. Alfred H. Colquitt. 

1880 Lionel C. Levy. 

1881 Capt. Reese Crawford. 

1882 Rev. S. P. Calloway. 

1883 G. E. Thomas, Jr. 

1884 Maj. R. J. Moses. 

1885 Henry R. Goetchius. 

1886 T. J. Chappell. 

1887 Charlton E. Battle. 

1888 Capt. S. P. Gilbert. 

1889 J. Harris Chappell. 

1890 Hon. Fulton Colville. 

1891 Capt. W. E. Wooten. 

1892 Capt. John D. Little. 

1893 HuntChipley. 

1894 Judgre John Ross. 

1895 Hon, Lionel C. Levy. 

1896 Rev. W. A. Carter. 

1897 Robert Howard. 

1898 Henry R. Goetchius. 



The Atlanta Conditation, of April 27, 1898, gives 
the following" account of the celebration of Memorial 
Day in Columbus: 



158 reminiscences. 

Columbus Celebrates 

The Origin of Decoration Day and Crowns 
THE Memory of Mrs. Ellis.— Mrs. Williams' 
Advocacy of Memorial Recorded. 

Columbus, Ga., April 26. — (Special) — The celebra- 
tion of Memorial Day in this city, where the idea 
orig-inated, was notable in many respects. 

To begfin with, the celebration itself was as im- 
posing- as any ever held in the history of the city, 
and the ladies of the Memorial Association took 
advantage of the occasion to settle authoritatively 
the question as to whom belong-ed the credit of 
inaugurating- this beautiful custom. 

THE ladies memorial ASSOCIATION. 

In 1861 , at the beginning of the war, there was 
organized in Columbus the Soldiers' Aid Society. 
At the close of the war this was merged into the 
Ladies' Memorial Association, which org^anization 
has existed ever since. The idea of decorating- the 
graves of the soldiers orig-inated with a Columbus 
lady. Miss Lizzie Rutherford, afterwards Mrs. Liz- 
zie Rutherford Ellis, the wife of Captain Roswell 
Ellis, of the Columbus Guards. Mrs. Charles J. 
Williams was another lady who took a very active 
part in the org-anization of the Association, and it 
weis largely through her efforts that the idea gained 
the publicity and popularity that it attained, and 
for a time the name of Mrs. Ellis was overlooked. 



REMINISCENCES. 159 

In 1866, at the end of the war, there was a meet- 
ing- of a small number of ladies, who formed the 
Ladies' Memorial Association. Of the ladies who 
attended that meetings there are only two living-. 
They are Mrs. Clara M. Dexter and Mrs. William G. 
Woolfolk. Shortly after the organization of the 
Columbus Association the idea g"ained wide popular- 
ity throughout the South, and similar organizations 
were perfected in numerous cities and towns, until 
now every place has an org-anized body of noble 
women whose duty and whose pleasure it is to see 
that the memory of the South 's dead heroes is hon- 
ored in a fitting: way by elaborate and interesting- 
exercises on the 26th day of every April. 

AN INTERESTING OCCASION. 

The celebration possessed unusual interest. Mr. 
Henry R. Goetchius was orator of the day, and his 
tribute to the Confederate dead was most eloquent. 
The following was the programme carried out: 

Music — "Funeral March," Chopin — Prof. J. Lewis 
Browne. 

Prayer— Rev. W. A. Carter, D. D. 

Music — "Who Will Care for Mother Now?" 
Octette. 

Introduction of Speaker — By Mr. Robert Howard. 

Memorial Address — Hon. Henry R. Goetchius. 

Music— "The Vacant Chair." 

History of Memorial Day — Presented to the Lizzie 
Rutherford Chapter, Daug-hters of the Confederacy, 
read by Mr. Prank Garrard. 



160 REMINISCENCES. 

Music — "The Conquered Banner."— Miss Mary 
Kivlin, 

Recitation — "Our Confederate Dead" — Miss Magf- 
gie Martin Harrison. 

Music — "Let Us Pass Over the River," Stonewall 
Jackson's last words — Chorus. 

Piano — Miss Marj^ Kivlin. 

Cornets — Clarence Gray and Mr. Berry. 

Violin — Mr. Dreyspool. 

Benediction — Rev. A. M. Wynn. 

THE MILITARY FEATURE. 

The Columbus Guards, the Browne Fencibles and 
the Phenix City Rifles, the local military org-aniza- 
tions, were out in full force. The two Albany 
companies. Companies E and G of the Guards, were 
present as guests of the Columbus military by 
special invitation, and participated in the exercises, 
thus making- the military feature an imposing- one. 
The Albany boj^s arrived in the city this morning-, 
and were met at the depot by the Guards and Fenc- 
ibles, who escorted them to their armory. The 
Columbus military is very appreciative of the hospi- 
tality exhibited on the occasion of their recent 
trip to Albany. 

The line of march was as follows: 

First, mounted policemen. 

Fourth Reg-iment Band. 

Five military companies: Columbus Guards, 
Browne Fencibles, Companies E and G of the Al- 
bany Guards, and the Phenix City Rifles. 



REMINISCENCES. 161 

The companies were formed in battalion, accord- 
ing- to the rank of the officers. 

Phenix City Brass Band. 

The True Blues, small boys. 

The Confederate Veterans of Camp Benning". 

Sons of Confederate Veterans, mounted. 

Fire Department. 

Orator of the day, in carriage. 

Ladies' Memorial Association, in carriages. 

Daughters of the Confede^ac5^ 

Citizens, in carriages. 

At the cemetery the usual salutes were fired over 
the graves of the soldiers. As usual, the g-raves 
were beautifully decorated. 

THE MEMORY OF MRS. ELLIS. 

The notable feature of the day was the history of 
the Association, prepared officially, wherein the full 
credit is awarded Mrs. Ellis of having- orig-inated 
the idea of a floral remembrance, and to Mrs. Wil- 
liams of having- taken it up and carried it to suc- 
cess. 

(Then followed a copy of the history as heretofore 
set out in these pages, embracing- the affidavits, 
letter of Mrs. Williams, etc., etc. After reference 
to the oration, the report concluded with the follow- 
ing- list of ladies, whose portraits accompanied the 
report:) 



162 REMINISCENCES. 

THE HONOR ROLL. 

Mrs. Absalom H. (Loretta R. Lamar) Chappell 
was first President of the Soldiers' Aid Society of 
Columbus. 

Mrs. Robert (Evelyn Pag-e Nelson) Carter was the 
the second and only succeeding" President of the 
Soldiers' Aid Society, and the first President of the 
Memorial Association of Columbus. She was elect- 
ed in 1866 and remained in office until the date of 
her death, in January 1896. 

Mrs. Louis P. (Annie Leonard) Garrard is now 
President of the Memorial Association of Columbus, 
having- succeeded Mrs. Carter. 

Mrs. William G. (Maria Byrd Nelson) Woolfolk 
and Mrs. Charles E. (Clara M. Hodges) Dexter are 
the only surviving- ladies of the number which met 
in 1866 to organize the Memorial Association. 

Miss Anna C. Benning- is President of the Lizzie 
Rutherford Chapter of the Daughters of the Con- 
federacy at Columbus. 

Mrs. Lizzie Rutherford Ellis is the lad3^ in whose 
patriotic heart originated the idea of Memorial Day 
and the originator of the custom. 

Mrs. Charles J. (Mary Ann Howard) Williams is 
the Secretary of the Memorial Association whose 
gifted pen wrote the letter which obtained from the 
ladies of the South co-operation with the ladies of 
Columbus in establishing Memorial Day. 



REMINISCENCES. 163 

Mrs. Peter (Jane E. Ware) Martin has been Sec- 
retary of the Ladies' Memorial Association of 
Columbus for the past 30 years. 

THE TEXT OF MRS. WILLIAMS' LETTER. 

The following- is a copy of the original letter of 
Mrs. Charles J. Williams, as Secretary of Columbus 
Memorial Association, to the press and ladies of the 
South reg-arding Memorial Day, taken from the 
Columbus (Ga.) Times: 

"Columbus, Ga., March 12, 18QQ.— Messrs. Editors: 
The ladies are now and have been for several days en- 
gaged in the sad but pleasant duty of ornamenting" and 
improving that portion of the city cemetery sacred to 
the memory of our gallant Confederate dead, but we 
feel it is an unfinished work unless a day be set 
apart annually for its special attention. We cannot 
raise monumental shafts and inscribe thereon their 
many deeds of heroism, but we can keep alive the 
memory of the debt we owe them by dedicating at 
least one day in each year, to embellishing their 
humble g^raves with flowers. Therefore, we beg the 
assistance of the press and the ladies throug-hout 
the South to aid us in the effort to set apart a cer- 
tain day to be observed from the Potomac to the 
Rio Grande, and be handed down through time as a 
relig"ious custom of the South, to wreathe the graves 
of our martyred dead with flowers; and we propose the 
26th day of April as the day. Let every city, town 



164 REMINISCENCES. 

and villagre join in the pleasant duty. Let all alike 
be remembered, from the heroes of Manassas to those 
who expired amid the death throes of our hallowed 
cause. We'll crown alike the honored restingf 
places of the immortal Jackson in Virg-inia, Johns- 
ton at Shiloh, Cleburne in Tennessee and the host of 
gfallant privates who adorned our ranks. All did 
their duty, and to all we owe our gfratitude. Let 
the soldiers' grraves, for that day at least, be the 
Southern Mecca to whose shrine her sorrowing- 
women, like pilgrims, may annually bring their 
grateful hearts and floral offerings. And when we 
remember the thousands who were buried 'with 
their martial cloaks around them,' without Chris- 
tian ceremony of interment, we would invoke the 
aid of the most thrilling eloquence throughout the 
land to inaugurate this custom by delivering, on the 
appointed day this year, a eulogy on the unburied 
dead of our g-lorious Southern army. They died for 
their country. Whether their country had or had 
not the rigfht to demand the sacrifice, is no longer a 
question of discussion. We leave that for nations 
to decide in future. That it was demaneded — that 
they fought nobly, and fell holy sacrifices upon their 
country's altar, and are entitled to their country's 
g-ratitude, none will deny. 

"The proud banner under which they rallied in 
defense of the holiest and noblest cause for which 
heroes fought, or trusting women prayed, has been 



REMINISCENCES. 165 

furled forever. The country for which they suffered 
and died has now no name or place amongr the 
nations of the earth. Legfislative enactment may 
not be made to do honor to their memories, but the 
veriest radical that ever traced his gfenealog"y back 
to the deck of the Mayflower, could not refuse us 
the simple privileg^e of paying" honor to those who 
died defending- the life, honor and happiness of the 
Southern women." 



Ladies' Memorial Association, 
Columbus, Georgia. 



PRESENT OFFICERS: 
President, Mrs. Louis P. Garrard. 

Vice-Presidents: 

Mrs. W. G. Woolfolk, 

Mrs. Reese Crawford, 

Miss Anna Caroline Benning", 

Mrs. O. S. Jordan, 

Mrs. A. Dozier, 

Treasurer, Mrs. Clara M. Dexter, 

Secretary, Mrs. J. E. Martin. 

Assistant Secretaries: 
Mrs. Joseph S. Harrison, 
Mrs. J. Norman Pease, 



166 REMINISCENCES. 

[This Is not a complete list. An earnest effort has been made to 
obtain the names of all the members, but this effort has not been 
successful. The list Is arranged without reference to age or time. 
Many have married and It was not possible In some instances to as- 
certain their present names. Some also are dead, but It was thought 
best that all names obtainable should be here recorded.] 



Adams, Miss Fannie, 

Allen, Mrs. A. M. — Sallie Bellingrer, 

Backus, Miss Annie J., 

Bailey, Miss Belle, 

Bailey, MissE. H., 

Banks, Miss Sue, 

Bennett, Miss Anna, 

Benning-, Mrs. Henry L. — Mary Howard Jones, 

Benning-, Miss Anna Caroline, 

Benningr, Miss Mary Howard, 

Blanch ard, Mrs. McDuffie — Sarah J. W., 

Blanchard, Mrs. W. A. — Henrietta Seabrook, 

Bradford, Miss Mary, 

Brannon, Mrs. A. M. — Julia A. Fuller, 

Brooks, Miss Josephine, 

Browne, Mrs. J. Rhodes, Jr. — Nina Youngf, 

Bruce, Mrs. Henry — (Deedee Patten), 

Bruce, Miss Mary Louisa, 

Bruce, Mrs. Wm. — Mary Louisa Jones, 

BuUard, Mrs. W. L. — Mary Blackmar, 

Burrus, Mrs. Lawrence M., 

Bussey, Mrs. Henry — Elizabeth Lucas, 

Byingfton, Mrs. E. T.— Elia Goode, 

Bynum, Mrs. Emma Tyler, 



REMINISCENCES. 167 

Camp, Mrs. L. A. — Annie Camp, 
Cameron, Miss Emma, 
Carter, Mrs. John D. — Zoonomia Hoxey, 
Carter, Mrs. Robt. — Evelyn Pag^e Nelson, 
Carter, Mrs. Robt. E.— Belle Powers, 
Carter, Mrs. W. A. — Ag-nes Quig-ley, 

Chapman, Mrs. Brad. — Elizabeth 

Chappell, Mrs. L. H.— Cynthia Kent Hart, 
Cleg-horn, Miss Sallie, 

Cody, Mrs. A. A. — Mary Roberta Williams, 
Comer, Mrs. Laura Beecher, 
Cook, Miss Mary Elvira, 
Copeland, Mrs. — Mag-g^ie Cook, 
Chancellor, Mrs. A. C. — Carrie Wynne, 
Carson, Mrs. Robt. — Ida Brannon, 
Cowdery, Miss Eveline, 
Cowdery, Miss Mattie, 
Curtis, Mrs. N. N.— Patty Welborne, 
Curtwrig^ht, Mrs. — Lizzie Murkenfuss, 
Crawford, Mrs. Bennett — May Lowe, 
Crawford, Mrs. Reese — ^Aug-usta Jane Benning", 
Dexter, Mrs. Chas. E.— Clara M. Hodgfes, 
Dilling-ham, Mrs. Geo. — Anna Hall, 
Dismukes, Mrs. E. P. — Annie E. Forman, 
Downing-, Mrs. L. T. — Lucy Urquhart, 
Dozier, Mrs. A. A. — Susie Moreland, 
Dozier, Mrs. Albert — Mary Cook, 
Ellis, Mrs. Roswell — Lizzie Rutherford, 
Evans, Miss Eula, 



168 REMINISCENCES. 

Evans, Mrs. P. H.— Dillie Waddell, 
Estes, Mrs. Marion — Mag"g"ie Kirven, 
Parish, Mrs. Robert— Helen Slade, 
Pog-le, Mrs. Wm. — Sallie Rutherford, 
Pontaine, Mrs. Wm. — Laura Ynestrai, 
Porsyth, Miss Anna, 

Plewellen, Mrs. Abner C. — Sarah Porter Shep- 
herd, 

Gardiner, Miss Anna Byrd, 
Gardiner, Miss Mollie, 
Garrard, Miss Annie Leonard, 
Garrard, Miss Helen Gertrude, 
Garrard, Mrs. L. P. — Annie P. Leonard, 

Garrett, Mrs. Joseph, Heard, 

Gilbert, Mrs. S. P. — Mary Howard, 

Goetchius, Mrs. H. R. — Mary Russell, 

Goetchius, Mrs. R. R.— Mary Bennett, 

Gordon, Mrs. Hug-h— Carrie Williams, 

Gray, Mrs. M. E.— Alice Tyler, 

Greene, Mrs. R. H., 

Griffin, Miss Anna Helena, 

Hanserd, Mrs. Jos. — Mary Bethune, 

Hanserd, Miss Mary L., 

Harrison, Mrs. J. S.— Sallie Martin, 

Harden, Mrs. — Mary Tyler, 

Hardeman, Mrs. Prank — Anne McDougfald, 

Harrison, Mrs. W. P.— Mary P. Hodgres, 

Hatcher, Mrs. S. B. — Susie Madden, 

Hill, Mrs. Joe Hill— Mary Helen Downing-, 



REMINISCENCES. 169 

Hines, Mrs. Thos.— Clothide DeLaunay, 

Hirsch, Mrs. Herman, —Annie 

Hodg-es, Mrs. M. E.— Elizabeth Smith, 

Hopkins, Mrs. L. O., 

Howard, Miss Lila, 

Howard, Mrs. Ralph O.— Willie Watt, 

Howard, Miss Mary Jones, 

Howard, Mrs. T. B., Jr.— Nettie Williams, 

Howard, Mrs. Wm.— Fannie Anderson, 

Hull, Mrs. H. L. — Sarah Jones Benningf, 

Hudson, Mrs. David— Juliette M. Hall, 

Hudson, Mrs. Benj. — Ellen Charlton, 

Hurt, Mrs. Chas. D., 

Hurt, Mrs. Fannie, 

Iverson, Miss Leona Hamilton, 

Jenkins, Mrs. Felix— Ella Crawford, 

Johnson, Mrs. Milton — Mary B. Jones, 

Jones, Miss A. Katharine, 

Jones, Mrs. Clifton — Annie Johnson, 

Jones, Mrs. John A. — Mary Louisa Leonard, 

Jones, Mrs. Mary Eliza Rutherford, 

Jones, Mrs. Seaborn — Mary Howard, 

Jordan, Mrs. O. S.— Bettie Blake Dexter, 

Jordan, Miss Maud, 

Kincaid, Miss Mary, 

King-, Miss Mattie, 

Leitner, Mrs. John, 

Levy, Miss Edna, 

Levy, Miss Francis Marion, 



170 REMINISCENCES. 

Levy, Mrs. Lionel C. — Isabel Moses, 

Lewis, Miss Alabama, 

Lewis, Miss Annie Belle, 

Lewis, Miss Leila, 

Lewis, Miss Mary, 

Lewis, Mrs. M. N., 

Little, Mrs. W. A.— Jennie Dozier, 

MacAllister, Mrs. J. M., 

MacDoug-ald, Mrs. Emily Fitton, 

Mathews, Mrs. John— Mary 

Mitchell, Mrs. F.— Katherine T. Downing-. 

Mott, Mrs. R.— Annie Battle, 

Murdoch, Mrs. R. B. — Lydia Spencer, 

Neill, Mrs. Geo. — Alabama Lindsay, 

Osburn, Mrs. C. T. — Cornelia Bacon, 

Paramore, Mrs. John, 

Patten, Mrs. Richard — Martha Anna Hodg^es, 

Patterson, Miss Mildred Lewis, 

Pearce, Mrs. J. H., 

Pease, Mrs. J. Norman — Anna Vivian Jones, 

Poe, Mrs. O. Magfruder, 

Pond, Miss Callie, 

Pope, Mrs. Wm, — Lizzie Patten, 

Pou, Mrs. Joseph— Antoinette Dozier, 

Redd, Mrs. C. A. — Eug-enia Weems, 

Redd, Mrs. N. L.— Rebecca Ferg-erson, 

Sarling-, Mrs. Solomon, 

Shepherd, Mrs Anne, 

Smith, Mrs. Milton J. — Florida Welborne, 



REMINISCENCES. 171 

Spencer, Mrs. R. P.— Ida T. Speed, 

Spencer, Mrs. Samuel — Louisa V. Benning", 

Stewart, Miss Catty, 

Stewart, Mrs. J. M., 

Strupper, Mrs. I. G.-Mary Everett, 

Ticknor, Mrs. Doug-las —Sarah D. Ticknor, 

Ticknor, Mrs. F. O.— Rosa Nelson, 

Ticknor, Mrs. Geo. —Nora Stewart, 

Tig-ner, Mrs. W.F., 

Tig-ner, Mrs. G. Y. — Johnnie Lindsay, 

Thomas, Miss Estelle, 

Thomas, Mrs. G. E., 

Thomas, Miss Mary J., 

Torrence, Miss Harriet, 

Torrence, Miss Matilda, 

Tyler, Miss Anna, 

Tyler, Mrs. John, 

Tyler, Miss Rosa, 

Waddell, Miss Bessie F., 

Waddell, Miss Sallie N., 

Ware, Mrs. R. A. — Margaret Ellison, 

Warner, Mrs. Chas. — Susie Swift, 

Watson, Mrs. H. L. — Annie Patten, 

Weems, Miss Lottie, 

Wells, Mrs. M. E. Birdsong-, 

Williams, Mrs. Chas. J.— Mary Ann Howard, 

Williams, Mrs. (Dr.) Chas. Beall, 

Worrell, Miss Kate, 

Worrell, Mrs. James — Emma Bigfg-ers, 



172 REMINISCENCES. 

Worrell, Miss Josephine, 
Woodruff, Mrs. Chas.— Mary Lou Mott, 
Woodruff, Mrs. Geo. W. — Virg"inia Lindsay, 
Woodruff, Mrs. Henry— May Patten, 
Woolfolk, Mrs. Wm. G.— Maria Byrd Nelson, 
Wrigflit, Mrs. — Mary Bridg-es Murdoch, 
Yong-e, Mrs. Ed. — Lucy Banks, 



CHAPTER XI. 

SEVERAL years agro my brother Richard heard 
that an ang-ry mob just outside of the city 
limits on the Talbotton Road was about to lynch a 
man charg-ed with a nameless crime. He hurried 
out as fast as his horse could run. On reaching- the 
scene he found a larg-e crowd of hig-hly excited men 
with a halter around the neck of the man. I fol- 
lowed Richard within a few minutes and found him 
addressing: the excited crowd, pleading- for time to 
investigate the charg-e. I asked the man his name. 
He replied, "Bob Sykes, from Mississippi." He 
was a class-mate of mine at Marietta, Ga., in 1853, 
and I had never seen or heard of him from that time 
until I met him under the terrible, heart-rending- cir- 
cumstances. About this time dear old Bob Led- 
sing-er, deputy sheriff, appeared, took cliarg-e of him 
and carried him to jail. The next morning he was 
bound over by a magistrate under a bond of $1,000 
for his appearance before the next grand jury. We 
made the bond for him. When the grand jury met, 
like a true man he appeared. The jur3'^ failed to in- 
dict. He immediately found Dick and mj'^self, 
expressing his gratitude with all the feeling and 
words his tongue could express. If Bob Sykes is 
alive to-day, he owes that life to the true heart and 



174 REMINISCENCES. 

fearless tong-ue of Dick Howard. Two minutes later 
on the part of Dick, and innocent Bob Sj^kes would 
have been a victim of mob law. 

At the Memphis Reunion of the U. C. V., 1901, I 
met Hilary Herbert (Secretary of the Navy during- 
Cleveland's second administration). We were warm 
friends during" our early manhood. Taking- his hand 
I said: "I'll bet you $100 you can't tell who I am." 
After thorougfhly scanning- my face for some time, 
he said: "Prom your face, I can't say who you are, 
but your voice tells me you are Bob Howard." 
Forty- two years had elapsed since we last met. 
There was an exhibition at this reunion — the 
sabre with which the world's wiza.rd of the saddle, 
N. B. Forrest, in personal combat killed thirty-one 
Yankee soldiers. Sixteen horses were killed under 
him in battle. He was severely wounded several 
times. Truly he bore a charmed life. On a mag-- 
nificent equestrian statue in Memphis is inscribed: 

"His footprints die not on Fame's crimsoned sod, 
But will ring tbrough her song and her story; 
He fought like a Titan and struck like a god, 
His dust Is our ashes of glor3'. " 

After Memphis was occupied by the Yankees, his 
mother, who was living- there, was refused by the 
provost g-uard a pass to g"o beyond the citj^ limits, 
and she said to the g-uard: "Bedford will make you 
pay for this." A very short time after this, one 
nig-ht about dark, Forrest with a few dare-devils 



REMINISCENCES. 175 

dashed into the rotunda of the Gayaso Hotel on 
their horses and captured the commandant of the 
post and several of his staff. This dear old mother 
knew her son "as well as the gfal knows her 
daddy." 



CHAPTER XII. 

From (.'oIumbuB Ga., Enquirer-Sun, April 26, 1903. 

"Uncle Bob" Howard Made Speech of His 
Life on Memorial, Day. 



Plain Pacts, in Plain English, in His Me- 
morial Day Oration before Talbot 
County People. 

Col. Howard Told Them What He Thought 



And Did Not Mince Matters in the Slight- 
est. His Oration in Full. He Was 
Given an Ovation. 

nPALBOTTON, GA., April 25. —(Special.)— The 
■■• Memorial Day observance here was one of the 
most notable in years. 

Many eloquent Memorial addresses have been 
delivered in Talbotton, but none more beautiful than 
that of Colonel Robert M. Howard, of Columbus, to- 
day. 

A splendid prog^ramme of exercises had been ar- 
rang-ed by the Ladies' Memorial Association, and 
was carried out in perfect manner. 



REMINISCENCES. 177 

The exercises were very larg-elj'- attended, and the 
Columbus orator was gfiven an ovation, his speech 
being- received with the gfreatest enthusiasm. In 
popular parlance, it was the "warmest" address de- 
livered here in many a day. 

Colonel Howard was introduced very happily by 
Captain J.J. Bull. 

Colonel Howard's address follows: 

Ladies of the Memorial Association, Ladies, 
Comrades and Gentlemen: Words can but feebly 
express the pride and pleasure with which I receive 
the cordial g^reeting' of this mag^nificent audience. I 
accept it not as personal to myself, but as a tribute 
at the shrine of sweet love to the memory of a cause 
we held nearer and dearer than life itself — a cause 
for which we freely sacrificed all, save honor, true 
manhood and noble womanhood. To you, dear 
ladies of the Memorial Association, I tender my true 
appreciation of the high honor j^ou have conferred 
upon me on this occasion and I trust you may have 
no cause of regret in your selection. 

I shall speak to you of a cause which, though lost, 
was, is and will be forever as rig'hteous as any for 
which freedom e'er unsheathed her sword; of arms, 
whose brilliant achievements are the wonder and 
admiration of the world; of men — the Confederate 
dead and their surviving comrades — whose deeds of 
valor, whose love of country, whose devotion to 
duty, whose tireless endurance and whose dauntless 



178 REMINISCENCES. 

courag"e find no parallel on the pagfes of history, 
either ancient or modern; and last, but bj^ no means 
least, of the fairest, purest, noblest type of true 
womanhood that ever graced and adorned God's per- 
fect creation — Dixie's peerless daughters —"chaste 
as morning- dew, spring has not flower more beauti- 
ful; winter no snow-wreath more pure." It requires 
no X-ray to locate and diagnose my case on this or 
any other occasion. Go, see what I have seen; feel 
what I have felt; suffer what I have suffered; go learn 
what I know, of the injustice, outrages and perse- 
cutions that have been forced upon us of the South 
b}^ the United States Government since the flring- of 
the first gun in the Civil War, to this very day, and 
you will not wonder at the earnestness and depth of 
feeling with which I shall address j'^ou. I shall 
''nothing extenuate or set down aught in malice," 
but will "hew to the line, let the chips fall where 
they may." I shall call a spade a spade because it 
is a spade, and will not mince words in matters per- 
taining to absolute, incontrovertible facts. And now 
what means this sea of upturned faces; Age, with 
his wrinkles, burdens and cares; Youth in her beauty, 
joys and smiles? The answer is in your silent city 
of the dead, where sleep the true, the brave. 



'On Fame's eternal camping ground 
Their silent tents are spread 
And glory guards with solemn round, 
The bivouac of the dead." 



REMINISCENCES. 179 

As woman was the last at the Cross of the blessed 
Saviour of man and the first at his tomb, so was 
woman a sweet g-uardian ang^el during- the bloody 
crucifixion of the South upon the altar of blind 
fanaticism and sectional hate and was first at the 
tomb of the Confederacy, when the inspiration of 
her pure love and changeless devotion g-ave birth to 
the hallowed day which we now religiously observe 
and reverently celebrate. 

"As the sunflower turns on her god 
when he sets 
The same look which she gave 
when he rose." 

So to-day from the placid waters of the beautiful 
Potomac to the turbid tides of the raging- Rio Grande, 
from the dew-kissed blue g-rass of Kentucky to the 
fragrant orange blooms of Florida, we turn to that 
g-rand old flag, around which ling-er so man}^ sad, 
sweet, tender memories, with the same deathless 
love with which we hailed its g-lorious birth, when 
we unfurled it to the propitious breezes of heaven 
and followed its spotless folds throug-h its stormy, 
bloody life in defense of constitutional liberty and 
the right of self-government. As long as the lusty 
eag-le shall wing his lofty flig-ht to snow-capped 
peaks; as long as the breeze shall bear the billow's 
foam; as long- as true manhood and noble woman- 
hood shall inspire pure patriotism, so long will 
Dixie's brave sons and Dixie's fair daug-hters meet 



180 REMINISCENCES. 

on this our annual Memorial Day, and with earth's 
fairest, sweetest flowers pay their tribute of sweet 
love to the memory of our Confederate heroes— the 
grandest army of martyrs the world has ever pro- 
duced; they went down to g^lorious death amid the 
wreck and carnagfe of battle in the heroic dischargfe 
of rig-hteous duty. "They sleep their last sleep, 
they have fought their last battle; no sound can 
awake them to glorj^ again." 

But we glorify ourselves by remaining true to 
their memory and changeless in our loyalty to the 
cause for which they freely gave their hearts' last, 
best and reddest blood. Caesar had his legions; 
Leonidas his Spartans; Washington his Yorktown; 
Bonaparte his Imperial Guard; Wellington 'his 
Waterloo; Balaklava its Light Brigade; Grant his 
three millions from the civilized world, with Africa 
thrown in as a sweet-smelling savor for good meas- 
ure, to be hurled against Southern breastworks by 
its white allies in the rear to shield their cowardly 
carcasses; but the deeds of all these sink into utter 
insignificance when compared to the manhood, 
valor and courage of the boys who wore the gray, 
and who for four j'^ears fought the world until they 
actually wore themselves out to a perfect frazzle by 
fighting and whipping the Federal armies. 'Tis said 
that Alexander the Great conquered the world and 
wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. 
Could we have had man for man during the contest, 



REMINISCENCES. 181 

when the war ended we would have been cryingf be- 
cause there was no more blue to shoot at save the 
blue dome above. The United States pension roll 
proclaims the fact that every soldier we had en- 
rolled during- the war killed, crippled, wounded or 
scared to death a Yankee and a half, and we are to- 
day charg-ed by the United States with two billions, 
eight hundred millions of dollars for pensions paid 
from the Treasury since the war ended, 'Tis true 
that the Civil War — that is, the conflict of arms 
closed thirty-eight years ago — that the dead past 
has in a measure buried its dead, but the harrowing 
memories of the unholy and damnable crusade waged 
against us by a relentless foe, the crimes and out- 
rages inflicted upon us during the war and many 
fold increased since still live and I would not stultify 
myself by asking this audience to suffer these recol- 
lections to find an everlasting burial in Lethe's 
dark waters with the lapse of thirty-eight years; on 
the contrary, I would burn, as it were, with a seeth- 
ing red-hot iron on the tablet of your memory, these 
recollections so deepl}^ that time could never efface 
them. 

Were the climate and soil of New England 
adapted to the cultivation of cane and cotton and to 
the population of the nigger race as it is in the 
South, Boston to-day would have been calling the 
roll of her slaves from Bunker Hill monument and 
would have been headquarters for the slave trade of 



182 REMINISCENCES. 

North America, and whoever says to the contrary 
should be bored for the simples. 

Lincoln was the one and the only one who could 
have prevented the firings of a g-un in the Civil War. 
There can be no effect without a cause. The first gfun 
lired in the war was the effect and echoes of the 
midnig-ht g-uns of John Brown and his murderous 
freebooters at Harper's Ferry, Va,, in 1859, when 
peaceful citizens were aroused from their slumbers 
and murdered without cause or provocation; Brown 
proclaiming- that it was the beginning- of a g-eneral 
servile insurrection throug-hout the entire South for 
indiscriminate slaug-hter of its people reg-ardless of 
age or sex. 

When Lincoln ordered General McDowell to cross 
the Potomac River with 55,000 Federal soldiers to 
shoot down Southern men who were defending their 
homes, violators of no law known to the Constitu- 
tion, guilty of no crime, he was as much a violator 
of law and as redhanded a murderer as was John 
Brown. Applying the rule of true analysis, wherein 
did one differ from the other? Tell me not with fine 
spun theories and false sentimental sophistry, what 
Lincoln would have done for the South had he have 
lived. I tell you what he had already done and that 
nothing he could have done would have atoned for 
and made right the ruthless slaughter of enough 
Southern men, whose skeletons placed one upon the 
other would have made a monument of human bones 



REMINISCENCES. 183 

whose capstone would have been more than 250 
miles above its base, and there like Banquo's gfhost 
it will stand and will not down and if the Bible be 
true, and who can doubt it, I believe in the final 
judg-ment a just God wall saj^ to Lincoln and his 
wicked abettors and instig'ators : " Depart from me, 
you accursed workers of iniquity; I know you not." 
And in this I do not include the officers and rank 
and file of the Federal army. 

This is the white man's gfovernment; no nigfgfer to 
its sway; our white flag", the sceptre, all who meet 
shall obey. O! my countrymen, let us have a g"ov- 
ernment, the laws of which shall be made and ad- 
ministered exclusively by white men, and if per- 
cliance, by political corruption and the loss of 
manhood, it should ever become otherwise, then 
may God, in His mercy, have Heaven's Archangel 
with trumpet tongue sound the end of time. There 
will never be real peace, harmony and security in 
this g-overnment until the nig^gfer is forever elimi- 
nated as a political factor, both as voter and office- 
holder. It is the paramount question that confronts 
us. Upon the wise and proper solution of it depends 
the welfare of the entire people of both races, the 
stability and perpetuity of the gfovernment. A nig-- 
gfer should hold no office in this government, except 
chief engineer of a mule or director general of a steer, 
and he had better steer clear of his psalm-singing- 
hypocritical friends in general of the North and the 



184 REMINISCENCES. 

State of Illinois in particular, the home of his patron 
saint, Lincoln, where they mob and lynch nig"gers f or 
seekingf to make an honest living-. ''Woe unto you, 
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; you strain at a 
g-nat" and swallow a nigger without a grunt. And 
wh5^? Not that you love the nigger less, but that 
you hate the Southern people more and thus revel 
in the enjoyment of your sweet odoriferous morsel 
in venting- your vindictive hatred and ceaseless per- 
secution upon us. Whenever you hear a man either 
North or South S3.y there is perfect peace, harmony 
and brotherly love between the two sections of this 
gfovernment, he either speaks from policy, or is a 
consummate fool, or a monumental liar, or else has 
more pure, undefiled religion than I can ever attain 
to. And now hear me, when I say without any 
mental reservation or exception that any man who, 
using- his official power, appoints a nig-ger to office 
over white people in any section of this government 

is too low and too mean to even g-o to , well you 

know where I mean, and if you don't, I'll tell you; it 
is "that bourne from whence no traveler returns" — 
down there where snowstorms are conspicuous for 
their absence. Now this includes the whole business 
from the blustering- " Broncho Buster " of monstros- 
ity, pomposity and strenuosity in Washing-ton to his 
political henchmen everywhere who basely "bend the 
pregnant hing-es of the knee that thrift may follow 
fawning-." 



REMINISCENCES. 185 

However, the Bible says, "The ox knoweth his 
owner and the ass his master's crib," and the Bible 
don't lie and nowhere says that a nig-g-er must be 
placed over a white man and we defiantly say to the 
United States Government that with all your 
bristling- bayonets and ten-inch columbiads on land 
and your mig-hty navy afloat, you never can force 
the nig-grer on an equality with the white people of 
the South; God Almig-hty didn't do it and you can't. 
Now, these are my sentiments and I don't care the 
snap of my fing-er who hears me avow them and not 
more boldly do I announce them from the red old hills 
of Georg-ia, than fearlessly would I proclaim them 
from the house-tops of New Eng-land, where they 
used to burn pure, innocent, helpless women at the 
stake for being- witches. And yet, forsooth, these 
fanatics in their assumed self-righteousness strut to 
and fro as the g-iddy peacock in his g-audy plumag-e 
and say: "Behold, we are the culture, civilization, 
intellect and morality of the Government." God, 
save the mark. In the long- ag-o, according- to 
Aesop, a g-nat assuming- the responsibility of look- 
ing- after the domestic affairs and home life of the 
elephant, soug-ht temporary rest by alig-hting- on the 
horn of an ox and feeling- that it was of immense 
mag-nitude and hug-e preponderosity, remarked: "If 
my g-reat weight oppresses you, I'll move," to 
which the ox replied, "Keep your seat, you sweet 
little insignificant cuss, I didn't even know that you 



186 REMINISCENCES. 

were there." And so we say to the little Trays, 
Blanches and Sweethearts of the North that are 
continually yelping- on our tracks, "Lay on, McDuff, 
and damned be he who first cries, 'Hold, enougfh.' " 
Your raving-, roaring, ranting- has no more effect on 
us than a sing-le dew drop has on the tides of 
the Atlantic Ocean. The lion reg-ards not the loud 
braying of a long eared donkey; the eagfle 
scorns the vulture below him and disdains the hiss 
of the vile serpent as it crawls through its tilth 
and slime. 

Now and then we see a creature apparently soar- 
ing as an eagle and in reality descending- in the filth 
of the carrion; in illustration of which, cast your eye 
to Washing"ton and then see Teddy Roosevelt, "the 
rough rider," riding: roug-h shod over everything- 
pure and decent; forcing- a devoted wife, a lovelj'^ 
daughter, to meet upon terms of perfect social 
equality in the sanctity and purity of their home a 
nig-ger, Booker Washington; still later, see him throw 
wide open the doors of the White House, at a public 
reception, and then receive and greet nigg-ers with 
the same graciousness and urbanity as shown white 
people, thus publicly proclaiming- social equality 
between the two races, saying to the negro, "Woo, 
win and wear whom you may, the only bar in mar- 
riag-e is mutual consent." Deg-enerate son of a noble 
Georg-ia woman, the very thought of him is a stench 
in our nostrils; the pronunciation of his name, pollu- 



REMINISCENCES. 187 

tion to our lips— ignoble villain, he stinks as he rots 
and he stinks as he rises in his infamy. 

The infamous doctrine he announces and which 
he is endeavoring- to force upon the country, if not 
effectually checked at once, will inevitably lead to 
results in this country, the horrors of whicli com- 
pared to those of the Civil War, would be as a mole 
hill to a mountain. Read his published book in. 
which he compares Jefferson Davis to Benedict 
Arnold, makingr the latter the better, purer man of the 
two; the one, President of the Confederate States, 
a statesman, the peer of any man of this or any 
other agfe; as g-allant, as knig-htly a soldier as e'er 
drew flashing- blade in defence of his country; a pa- 
triot, true and tried, an incorruptible private citizen, 
a consecrated Christian g-entleman, "who leaving- 
behind him no blot on his name, looked proudly to 
Heaven from his deathbed of fame," and went to his 
honored g-rave amid the tears and with the love and 
admiration of millions of his countrymen. The 
other a miserable traitor to his country, receiving- 
as the price of his treason ten thousand dollars in 
gold and a commission in the British army, and died 
a miserable outcast in a foreig-n country in abject 
poverty in a hut, "unwept, unhonored and unsung," 
and despised even by the country to whom he sold 
his manhood. "O! shame where is thy blush," 
when the president of this great country could thus 
stultify himself in venting- his sectional hate. Read 



188 REMINISCENCES. 

agfiiiu in a recent speech at Arling-ton, Va., of the 
"Broncho Buster" and you find he brands Confed- 
erate soldiers as anarchists. Has he forg-otten that 
the fatal bullet of the foul anarchist g-ave him the 
exalted, responsible office he so basely prostitutes? 
Is it not a fact that in an electric car accident in 
which his secret service man was killed the accident 
mis-carried and caught the wrong- man? But enough 
of Teddy until 1904. Already the handwriting- is on 
the wall, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," and Mark 
Hanna will bury him in his political grave with ap- 
propriate epitaph, "He was, but he is not; died from 
g-alloping- consumption of nigger on the brain," 
And now leave the political monstrosity to the well 
merited scorn and contempt of all pure decent 
people, reg-ardless of sex or sections. 

Social equality, siiould it ever become an issue in 
this g-overnment, to be decided by leg-islative enact- 
ment or physical force, we of the South would meet 
its advocates with a sword in one hand and a torch 
in the other; we would dispute every inch of ground; 
raze every house, burn every blade of g-rass, and let 
the last entrenchment of liberty be our bloody gfrave 
of extinction rather than submit to such damnable 
degfradation. We of the South are the only true 
friends the nig-g-er has in this government. Let us 
deal kindly, justly with him, guard him in person 
and property by the strong- arm of the law, aid him 
in every laudable and proper way conducive to his 



REMINISCENCES. 189 

welfare and advaucement; if charg-ed with crime — 
save for a nameless one — and violation of law, weigh 
and try him in the same scale of equal justice you 
would the whitest man in the realm; if there is doubt 
attached to his g"uilt, "temper justice with mercy" 
and g"ive him the full benefit of the doubt; but, my 
countrymen, forever withhold from him the ballot 
and office, as you would tlie deadly viper from your 
bosom, lest it sting" you to death. There are many 
in each section of the country who contend that ed- 
ucation is the solution of the nig-g-er problem and 
millions of dollars are being annually expended on 
that line. Education for what? The chaing^ang-s, 
penitentiaries, reg^ardless of section, nameless crimes 
and shrieks of countless helpless women fully answer 
the question. Prison statistics prove that more than 
90 per cent, of the nigfger convicts of this country 
have a smattering of education; the tax digests of 
this State prove that 90 per cent, of the taxes paid 
by them on property is paid by those who do not 
know a letter of the alphabet. 

"A little learning Is a dangerous thing. 
Uriuli deep or taste not the Pierian spring." 

And the nig-gfer can never drink deep enough of 
that spring" to make him competent to discharge the 
duties and responsibilities of white citizenship. 

Equality of the South in the g-overnment. Of 
what does it consist? Only as tax payers, we are in 
the government, but not of it. How many names 



190 REMINISCENCES. 

from the South have been on the Presidential ticket 
since the war ended? Blair, a major g-eneral in the 
Federal Army, from Missouri, on the Democratic 
ticket in 1868, for Vice-President; Brown, from 
the same state, in 1872, for Vice-President, with 
Horace Greely, for President, as a Democrat; these 
two names complete the list. Of the thirty-eig-ht 
years since the war closed, a Republican President, 
with the exception of eight years, has appointed 
every Cabinet officer. How many from the South? 
Grant appointed one, a scalawag from Georg-ia; 
Hayes selected one, a good man from Tennessee; and 
I dare say, he did it to ease in a measure a g'uilty con- 
science that was smiting him for being the biggest 
thief known in the world; he actually and literally 
stole the whole United States Government and kept 
it in possession four years, knowing that he was a 
thief, and if this is not a fact, "true as Holy Writ," 
then I am the big-gest liar south of Boston, vx^here 
they keep the days of the week bj^ codhsh and 
Irish potatoes. During Cleveland's two terms as 
President, he had six members of his Cabinet 
from the South, made two Supreme Court Judg-es 
from the same section, and if he ever appointed a 
nigger to office south of the Potomac River, I don't 
know it. 

Now, I stand upon facts, and these are the incon- 
testible facts, which will forever perpetuate the 
truth of my assertion that upon the Federal Govern- 



REMINISCENCES. 191 

ment rests the inaug'uration of the Civil War between 
the two sections of this country. No part of its re- 
sponsibility rests upon the Southern States. They 
were not the agrgfressors in any sing^le instance. 
They were ever true in their pligfhted faith under the 
Constitution. No instance of a breach of its mutual 
covenants can ever be laid to their charg^e. The 
open and palpable breach was committed bj^ their 
Northern confederates. No one can denj^ this. 
Those states of the North which were false to their 
Constitutional obligfations claimed powers not del- 
egfated and elected a President pledg-ed to carry out 
principles openly in defiance of the decision of the 
hig-hest tribunal known to the Constitution. Their 
policy tended inevitably to a centralized despotism. 
It was under these circumstances that secession was 
resorted to; the war was beg-un and wag-ed by the 
North to prevent the exercise of this rig^ht. All 
that the South did was strictly in self-defense even 
in their firing- the first gun. The United States 
Government, after keeping" Jefferson Davis in prison 
two 3^ears (a portion of the time in manacles) libe- 
rated him without trial. And whyV Because it knew 
a trial would result in acquittal, which would forever 
prove and establish the rig-lit of secession under the 
Constitution and history will so record it. Every 
decision of the United States Supreme Court from 
its foundation down to the present time where 
States' Rig-hts and States' Sovereig-nty were the 



192 REMINISCENCES. 

questions for adjudication, has sustained the princi- 
ple and doctrine, and I challengfe denial and refu- 
tation of this fact. 

The so-called apostles of progfress and commercial- 
ism tell us that the war forever obliterated Mason 
and Dixon's line, that there is now no North, no 
South, no East, nor West, but one gfrand brotherhood 
of peace, harmony and mutual g^ood will between 
all sections of the gfovernment. The assertion is an 
infamous lie; bayonets don't make brothers. That 
line was a gfeogfraphical one marked by deg:rees and 
minutes of the compass. It is now traced by a line 
of innocent blood so wide and so deep that time can 
never bridg-e it nor can all of ocean and mountain 
billows ever submerge it. There is no new South as 
claimed by those who fain would sacrifice our glorious 
heroic past upon the altar of Mammon. The old 
South still lives and will yet Phcenix-like rise from 
her ashes and become the g"reatest, best portion of 
the Government, developing the highest, purest 
civilization of the world. Grand, glorious old South; 
God made your dirt, your men and your women! — 
made your history which will remain un.sullied as 
long- as Heaven's g-littering- dewdrops shall kiss the 
blushing- rose to bring- forth her spotless beauty and 
matchless fragrance. 

In many lands, O Freedom, are thy everlasting- 
spring-s. But upon no spot of earth — not on the 



REMINISCENCES. 193 

plains of Marathon, nor in the unconquerable Gulf of 
Salamis, not at Bannockburn or Morg-anton, not at 
Bunker Hill or at Yorktown, hast thou unsealed 
fountains purer or more unfailing- than upon the 
battlefields of the South from Manassas to Appoma- 
tox and Greensboro, where g^athered around Lee and 
Johnston the unterrified remnant of our loving- 
braves. The g-randeur of Southern manhood will 
emblazon the pag-es of history through all ag-es yet 
to come and in equally resplendent g-lory will the 
record paint the sublimity of Southern womanhood. 
Go with me now to Gettysburg-, fateful Gettys- 
burg-, where in a field of blood and a baptism of fire 
was sounded the death-knell of the Confederacy. 
Here the inspiration of the artist has traced on can- 
vas in fadeless colors the grandest battle scene of 
the world's history. There, hear the loud bugle 
sound over the hill and join in the din of the morn: 

"Till faint and more faint In the far solitiide, 
It dies on the portals of Heaven, 
While echo springs up from her home In the 

rock and seizes the perishing strain, 
And sends the proud challenge from rock to 
rock, from mountain to mountain again." 

Throug-h an open field nearly a mile off is Cem- 
etery Hill; upon its summit almost piercing- the 
clouds is entrenched the Federal Army, with its 
mighty arms of death and destruction. This is the 
key to the battlefield; if captured and held it means 

14 



194 REMINISCENCES. 

the destruction of the Federal Army and the capture 
by our army of Washingfton City and assuring- the 
independence of the Confederacy. And now with its 
shot and shell riddled banners of many a victorious 
field this unterrified, un whipped army of the match- 
less Lee forms in line of battle for the grandest, 
most heroic charg-e in the annals of war: 

"Firm -paced -a solid front they form, 
Still as the breeze, yet dreadful as the storm; 
Low murmuring sounds along their banners fly, 
Victory or death— the watch-word and reply. 
O! Heaven, they said, our bleeding country save; 
Is there no hand on high to shield the brave? 
Yet though destruction sweep these'plains. 
Rise fellow naen our country j'et remains; 
By that dread name we wave the sword on high, 
And swear for her to live, with her to die." 

And now ring's out in clarion notes the loud com- 
mand, "Fix bayonets, load and fire, load and fire, 
charg-e;" and with torn and tattered banners sweetly 
kissing- the breezes of hig-h Heaven, under the soul- 
stirring- strains of Dixie and the Rebel yell rending- 
the air, these immortal hordes move forward throug-h 
a storm of shot and shell. As falls the ripe gfrain 
before the sickle, so these heroes, ripe for duty, ripe 
for Heaven, fall by sections; fall by platoons, but 
undismayed on they g-o. 

"The combat deepens, on ye braves!" and with 
the Rebel yell rising- above the din of the battle, on 
they go; they fall by companies; they fall by reg-i- 



REMINISCENCES. 195 

ments and on they go. On Cemetery Hill, the fires 
of ruin gflow; the blood-dyed waters murmuring- far 
below, but on they g-o! The storm prevails — g'rows 
more furious, earth shakes, "red meteors flash along- 
the sky and conscious nature shudders at the cry," 
but on they g-o! And ag-ain the Rebel yell ring-s out 
a hig-h alto above the booming- cannon sending- dis- 
may and consternation to the enemy on the heig-hts 
above, but on they g-o! And now, with cannon to 
right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in 
front of them, they climb the hill; they clear the 
rifle-pits and leaping: on the breastworks plant with 
exultant shouts their gflorious battle flag-s. For some 
minutes, "like eag-les with bloody plumes" they 
stand triumphant on the crest of battle; but alas! 
the covering- and supporting- columns were not equal 
to their heroic devotion and the only fruit of their 
valor was a memory to their country, which throug-h 
all the ag-es of time will never g-row dim. As melts 
the mist before the morning- sun, so melted in blood 
this heroic army and with it our brig-ht star of hope 
forever set in impenetrable and never ending- dark- 
ness. 

The g-randest tribute ever paid to these heroes 
was by a wounded Confederate soldier when he said : 

"They went up to Heaven In a pillow of fire, 
In vain, alas! In vain, ye gallant lew. 
From rank to rank your volleyed thunder flew; 
O, bloodiest picture In the book of time, 
The South fell, unwept, without a crime, 



196 REMINISCENCES. 

"Found not a generous friend, a pitying foe, 
Strength In her arm or mercy In her woe- 
Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear. 
Closed her bright eye and curbed her high career; 
Hope, for a season, bade the South farewell, 
And Freedom shrieked as Richmond fell. 

"O, righteous Heaven! e'er Freedom found a grave. 
Why slept the sword— omnipotent to save? 
Where was thine, O, Vengeance, where thy rod. 
That might have saved the South from her wicked 
Crucifixion on the Altar of unrighteousness?" 

What Eve was to Adam in caring- for and enhanc- 
ing- the beauties of that perfect garden of Eden so 
are you, Daughters of the Confederacy, to our "Lost 
Cause;" upon you rests the sacred duty of keeping" 
a correct record of that cause, of perpetuating and 
transmitting- to this and future g-enerations its truth, 
its justice and the hallowed memories that so fondly 
cluster around it. The "Old Guard" feels justified 
in saying that you will nurture the sweet, tender 
plant of memory with such love that it will attain 
to that growth of perfection that Lethe's dark 
waters will ne'er overflow or submerge it. You are 
to us, as it were, balmy May, sweetly scattering: her 
beautiful petals o'er dreary December's g-littering- 
icicles ere they melt and vanish with the touch of 
time. 

There is more sweet music in the one word, 
woman, than Orpheus ever piped on his tender flute 
to his loved and lost Eurydice, and I can offer her 
no g-reater, hig-her honor than to say she is the 



REMINISCENCES. 197 

magic key that unlocks the g-olden g^ates of the New 
Jerusalem that erring- man may therein enter and 
"bathe his weary soul in seas of heavenly rest, and 
not a wave of trouble roll across his peaceful 
breast." 

The Cross of Honor is the emanation of your brain, 
the inspiration of your heart; we prize it and wear 
it as a g-rander, more g-lorious insig^nia of manhood 
and honor than worn by any earthly monarch, under 
his crown of sparkling- jewels; it has no g-littering- 
g-ems to mark its intrinsic value or to dazzle the eye 
with their brilliancy, but something- more exquisite, 
sweeter, more precious, more priceless; 'tis stamped 
with woman's deathless love for those who worthily 
wore the g-ray. 

"Life may cease, but then to heaven 
Will our pure aflfection soar; 
And when freed from earthly leaven. 
Dearest, then we'll love you more." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

TV /I" ANY years ag"o I heard Evan Howell tell to 
'■^ *■ quite a crowd of friends in Atlanta that he 
knew a soldier who had never been in a battle. 
Several times when his command formed in line of 
battle to go into action, he would take his place in 
line, but when they had reached the enemy he had 
skedaddled. Finally on the forming- for battle one 
day, his captain told a lieutenant to take his 
position in his rear and if he ran to shoot him on 
the spot. True to his former record, with the first 
volley he broke ranks and started off in a gfallop; 
the lieutenant drew his pistol and told him if he 
didn't return to the ranks he would have him shot 
for cowardice, to which he replied: "You can shoot 
me lieutenant, but no damn Yankee ever shall," and 
Evan said the last they ever heard of him he was run- 
ning- with the speed and bottom of a thoroug-h-bred 
four-mile race horse. The spirit mig-ht have been 
willing-, but doubtless the flesh was weak; which 
reminds me that in a big- battle, before the opposing- 
forces met, a rabbit was running- its level best — and 
a soldier said at his hig-hest pitch — "Go it, Mollie 
Cotton-tail and do your best, for if my reputation 
were not at stake God knows I'd be with you." I 
know that was a Confederate soldier, for a Yankee 



REMINISCENCES. 199 

soldier never considered reputation when the Rebel 
yell informed him that hell was about to break loose 
in his presence. General Cheatham once cursed a 
teamster very bitterly for abusing^ his team and the 
driver told him he took advantag^e of his office. The 
General pulled off his coat, threw it on the ground, 
and told him that was General Cheatham, but he 
was old Frank and to sail in. The driver sailed in 
at once and the General rode off a badly whipped 
man and took it all right and never accepted another 
challeng-e from a teamster. 

I take the followingf about the battle of Fred- 
ericksburg- from "Four Years Under Marse Robert" 
by Robert Stiles: 

"The Twenty-first Mississippi was the last regi- 
ment to leave the city. The last detachment was 
under command of Lane Brandon, already mentioned 
as my quandam class-mate at Yale, and son of old 
Colonel Brandon of the Twenty-first, who behaved 
so heroically at Malvern Hill. In skirmishing with 
the head of the Federal column — led, I believe, by 
the Twentieth Massachusetts, Brandon captured a 
few prisoners and learned that the advance com- 
pany was commanded by Abbott, who had been his 
chum at Harvard Law School when the war began. 
He lost his head completely. He refused to retire 
before Abbott. He fought him fiercely and was 
actually driving him back. In this he was violating 
orders and breaking our plan of battle. He was put 



200 REMINISCENCES. 

under arrest and his subaltern broug-ht the command 
out of town. Buck Denman, our old friend Buck of 
Leesburg- and Fort Johnston fame, a Mississippi 
bear hunter and a superb specimen of manhood, was 
color sergeant of the Twenty-first and a member of 
Brandon's company. He was tall and straig-ht, 
broad-shouldered and deep-chested, had an eye 
like an eagle and a voice like a bull of Bashan and 
was full of pluck and power as a panther. He was 
rough as a bear in manner, but withal a noble, 
tender-hearted fellow, and a splendid soldier. The 
enemy finding the way now clear, were coming up 
the street, full company front, with flags flying and 
bands playing while the great shells from the siege 
g-uns were bursting over their heads and dashing 
their hurtling- frag-ments after our retreating skir- 
mishers. Buck was behind the corner of a house 
taking sig-ht for a last shot. Just as his fing-ers 
trembled on the trig-g-er, a little three year old, fair 
haired baby girl toddled out of an alley, accom- 
panied by a Newfoundland dog, g^ave chase to a big- 
shell that was rolling- lazily along the pavement, she 
clapping her little hands and the dog snapping- and 
barking- at the shell. Buck's hand dropped from 
the trig-ger. He dashed it across his eyes to dispel 
the mist and make sure he hadn't passed over the 
river and wasn't seeing his own baby g-irl in a 
vision. No, there is the baby amid the hell of shot 
and shell and here come the enemy. A moment and 



REMINISCENCES. 201 

he has ground his gun, dashed out into the storm, 
swept his great right arm around tlie baby, gained 
cover again, and baby clasped to his breast and 
musket trailed in his left hand, is trotting- after the 
boys up to Marye's Heig"hts. And there behind that 
historic stone wall and in the lines hard by all those 
hours and days of terror was that baby kept, her 
fierce nurses taking- turns, patting- her while the 
storm of battle raged and shrieked, and at nig-ht 
wrestling- with each other for the boon and bene- 
diction of her quiet breathing- under their blankets. 
Never was a baby so cared for. They scoured the 
country-side for milk and conjured up their best 
skill to prepare dainty viands for her little lady- 
ship. When the strug-g-le was over and the enemy 
had withdrawn to his strong-holds across the river, 
and Barksdale was ordered to reoccupy the town, 
the Twenty-first Mississippi, having- held the post 
of dang-er in the rear, was g-iven the place of honor 
in the van and led the column. There was a long- 
halt, the brigade and regimental staff hurrying to 
and fro. The regimental colors could not be found. 
Denman stood about the middle of the reg-iment, 
baby in his arms. Suddenly he sprang- to the front, 
swing-ing- her aloft above his head, her little g-ar- 
ments fluttering- like the folds of a banner, he 
shouted, "Forward, Twenty-first, here are your 
colors!" And without orders off started the brig-ade 
toward the town, yelling only as Barksdale 's men 



902 REMINISCENCES. 

could yell. They were passing- throug-h a street 
fearfully shattered by the enemy's fire and were 
shouting- their very souls out — but let Buck himself 
describe the last scene in the drama: 'I was hold- 
ing the baby hig-h, Adjutant, with both arms, when 
above all the racket I heard a woman's scream. The 
next thing- I knew I was covered with calico and she 
fainted on my breast. I caug-ht her before she fell 
and laying- her down g-ently put her baby on her 
bosom. She was the prettiest thing- I ever looked 
at, and her eyes were shut, and I hope God '11 for- 
g-ive me, but I kissed her just once.' " 

Has peace or war ever painted a picture more 
beautifully blended with deep pathos, soul stirring- 
heart throbs and sublimity? "Are not five sparrows 
sold for two farthing-s and not one of them is for- 
g-otten before God?" 



CHAPTER XIV. 

'X'WO days before moving- to Indian Territory, 
■*■ from my home in Columbus, Ga., I was called 
by telephone to the Rankin Hotel, where I met many 
friends, who grave me a beautiful watch, chain and 
locket, with the inscription: "Presented to Col. R. 
M. Howard by his friends, Columbus, Ga., June 9th, 
1906." I will ever cherish the sweet memories of 
this manifestation of the love and esteem of these 
friends. 

A few days after reaching- Ardmore, I saw 
in the show window of a store a fish on which was 
painted, "weig-hs 349 pounds;" I asked the proprie- 
tor what kind of fish it was. "Just a minnow we 
use in fishing- for trout," he replied. I whittled 
and thoug-ht of my old friend Punch Doug-htie, of 
Columbus. "Where are you from?" the proprietor 
asked. "Georg-ia," I replied. "I knew you were a 
tender-foot," he replied, and I said: "I am not a 
tender-foot, but a true heart of the 600,000 who 
foug-ht the world for four years and wore them- 
selves out whipping- the Yankee Doodles." I then 
told him Georg-ia had more beautiful, fascinating- 
women to the square foot than any place on earth. 
"Who'll you prove it by?" he asked. "God," I 
replied. 



204 REMINISCENCES. 

I returned to Columbus in 1907, knowing- that all 
the sweet, hallowed memories of my life cluster 
around the red old hills and fertile, beautiful valleys 
of Georg-ia, and as Ruth said to Naomi, so say I to 
dear old Georgia: "Thy people shall be my people, 
and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, 
and there will I be buried." Yes, indeed, the 
dearest spot on earth to me is "Home, sweet Home!" 

The following is a copy of the letter I received 
from my friends: 

"Columbus, Ga., June 2, 1906. 
"Col. R. M. Howard, 

Columbus, Ga., 
"Dear Sir: 

We, the undersigned citizens of Columbus, Geor- 
g-ia, among- whom you have spent many years of 
usefulness and earnestness, learn with reg-ret that 
you now propose to transfer your residence to a dis- 
tant State. 

"Mere words will not convey a full expression of 
the tender sentiment, which moves our hearts, when 
we reflect upon the valiant service which you have 
rendered to the Southern States during- the Confed- 
eracy; to the people of Columbus and vicinity during* 
the dark days of reconstruction, and to the young-, 
old, rich and poor, to whom your life and character 
have ever been an inspiration. We desire however, 
tog-ether with thousands of others of your neig-hbors 
and fellow citizens, who have not had the opportunity 



REMINISCENCES. 



20b 



of attaching' their signatures, to take this method of 
testifying- in a feeble way the affection and admir- 
ation which has been kindled, and kept ever alive, by 
your exalted character, sympathetic heart and devo- 
tion to all that is g-rand and lovely in Southern 
womanhood and Southern manhood. 

"We earnestly hope that prosperity and happiness 
will follow you through life, and that wherever you 
may be, you will consider that your real home is in 
the hearts of your friends in Columbus, Georgia. 
"Sincerely your friends, 



L. A. Camp, 
L. A. Scarbroug-h, 
Felder Pou, 
Douglas Neill, 
J. D. Smith, 
O. C. Bullock, 
C. E. Battle, 
L. H. Chappell, 
Wm. L. Lott, 
L. Loewenherz, 
J. H. Martin, 
F. G. Lumpkin, 
L. P. Garrard, 
A. W. Shepherd, 
Sol Sarling-, by R. 
Chas. A. Morgfan, 
J. A. Kirven Co., 
J. Norman Pease, 
Rob't Reid, 
T. Jeff. Bates, 
Wiley Williams, 
R, W. Ledsinger, 
CM. Couch, 
A, C. Chancellor, 
L. P. Weathers, 



Rhodes Browne, 
Frank U. Garrard, 
M. Ashby Jones, 
R. J. Hunter, 
Hockley C. McKee, 
I. S. McElroy, 
C. E. Porter, 
W. C. Woodall, 
G. Gunby Jordan, 
Wm. Redd, Jr., 
Wm. A. Little, 
R. C. Jordan, 
J. S. Matthews, 
M. M. Moore, 
R. W. Page, 
E. S. McEachern, 
T. E. Blanchard, 
Jno. T. Davis, Jr., 
W. R. Blanchard, 
C. E. Porter, 
E. J. Bradley, 
E. J. Rankin, 
Cliff. B. Grimes, 
H. Sternberg-, 
S. Lindsay Neill." 



806 reminiscences. 

"3213 Washington Boulevard, 
Chicago, III., Feb. 2, 1910. 

"Col. Robert M. Howard, 

AND 

Members of 'Camp Benning' U. C. V., 
Columbus, Ga. 

"Respected Veterans: 

The surprise of my life occurred to-day, when I 
received your very unexpected g^ift of a beautiful 
'Loving- Cup.' A gift all the more appreciated, as 
it comes from those who once, in serried ranks, 
g-listening- with bayonets, welcomed me to Georg-ia. 
The little I did to merit your approbation is g-reatly 
overrated. It was simply an impromptu, earnest 
protest ag-ainst 'stirring: up strife.' In the spirit in 
which it is g-iven I accept your g-enerous g-ift, and 
will cherish it 'till, for me, sounds final 'taps,' 
when it shall be handed down to my children 
(already each one is laying- claim to it) and their 
children, a valued tribute of the 'Gray' to the 'Blue.' 
Thank God those fratricidal days are over, their 
memories alone remain. If oar g-reat leader 'Grant' 
could return to your great leader 'Lee' his sword, 
and extend to him the hand of friendship, and could 
say 'Let us have Peace,' it ill behooves me, at this 
late day, to approve and join in an attack upon the 
character of Robert E. Lee. 



REMINISCENCES. 207 

"Not without his wondrous story, could be writ our Nation's 

glory," 
"On fame's eternal camping ground, his silent tent Is spread, 
While glory guards with solemn round, the bivouac of the 
dead," 
"Lee's record ol deeds Illumes history's page, 

Bard, poet and singer, acclaim his great name, 
Typical 'American'— Leader and sage. 

His 'Statue' would grace the great 'Hall of Fame.' " 

"I have not visited the 'South' since the late 
'unpleasantness,' and though I may never visit you, 
I none the less appreciate your cordial invitation to 
visit your proud cit}^ g-reet you 'old boys' (as we 
did of yore between the skirmish lines), witness 
your thriving- industries, and last but not least, 
make the acquaintance of 'the most lovely women 
on God's g-reen earth' (according- to Col. Howard). 
But if the unexpected should come to pass, and 
I should come anywhere near your 'outposts' I'll 
holler 'Hello Johnnie!' and await the old response, 
'Hello Yank!' Then in friendship we'll shake 
hands, and drink from the same 'loving- cup.' 

"Wishing- you one and all a full measure of pros- 
perity, peace and happiness, 

I am yours sincerely, 

Allen W. Gray, 

Late Lieutenant and Adjutant 51st Regiment Illinois 
Veteran Volunteer Infantry. Post Commander U. S. Grant 
Post, Department of Illinois, G. A i2. " 

On the cup above alluded to is inscribed: "Pre- 
sented by the Veterans of Camp Benning- and 



208 REMINISCENCES. 

citizens of Columbus, Georg-ia, January 19, 1910, to 
Dr. Allen W. Gray, of the G. A. R., of Chicag-o, 111., 
in honor of his true manhood." 



Did Sherman "Love" Southerners? 

To the Editor oi The Telegraph: Quite a leng-thy 
paper from the pen of Capt. D. F. Boyd appears 
in the Covfederate Veteran for September on Gen. 
William T. Sherman. 

Capt. Boyd was professor of ancient lang-uagfes 
in the Louisiana Military Academy at its org^aniza- 
tion in 1859. Gen. William T. Sherman was its 
first superintendent and conducted successfully the 
operations of this State institution until the seces- 
sion of the "PelicaJi State." 

Capt. Boyd has an exalted opinion of Gen. Sher- 
man, and in considerable detail g-oes into particulars 
of his career, and shows the Southern people what 
an extremely erroneous opinion they had formed 
of the character of the celebrated actor in the g-reat 
trag"edy of the early sixties. 

For his spectacular march from Chattanoog"a 
throug-h Atlanta to Savannah and thence to Colum- 
bia and on to Greensboro, N. C, our people had 
viewed Gen. Sherman as a satellite of his majesty 
who presides where Sherman places war. The 
Southern people for forty-six years have been under 



REMINISCENCES. 209 

the delusion that he was the special messeng-er of 
his Satanic majesty, whose mission it was to illus- 
trate most conclusively the proper definition of that 
small but forcible word war! But it remains for 
Capt. Boyd to remove this wrong- impression. He 
shows Gen. Sherman as the personification of love. 
Gen. Sherman had spent the g-reater part of his 
manhood years with the Southern people, had 
absorbed much of their ideas and endeared himself 
to them, especially in and around Alexandria, La. 
We have been under the delusion that Gen. Sherman 
was brutal. Capt. Boyd drops the scales from our 
eyes, and in g-raceful and g^lowing- language shows 
him a lovingf and g-entle friend of the South. 

But Capt. Boyd refrains from explaining- the 
method of love(?) as evinced in that spectacular 
torchlight procession from Chattanoog-a to Greens- 
boro, via Atlanta, Savannah and Columbia. He 
somehow evades this little episode in Gen. Sher- 
man's career. Perhaps the dead lang-uag-es of which 
Capt. Boyd was professor and master at the mili- 
tary academy prompted him to let that dead past 
bury its dead. If Capt. Boyd had been professor of 
rhetoric, perhaps that science would have given him 
the power to forg-e the langfuag-e necessary to 
explain Gen. Sherman's love(?) for the Southern 
people. 

To the survivors of his torchlight procession — 
those survivors whose homes came in the line of his 



210 REMINISCENCES. 

march — that remarkable paper of Capt. Boyd's will 
be a wonderful revelation. It is to be feared this 
long'-delayed interpretation of that divine character- 
istic of the Federal captain comes too late to win 
disciples to that faith. 

And this remarkable eulog^y of Gen. Sherman is 
penned by one claiming- to be a Virginian — a Calhoun 
Democrat and a Confederate ofiicer. 

Sumter Cunning-ham, in his editorial qualifying- 
the space g-iven and comments made on Capt. 
Boyd's paper, is charitable enoug-h to credit the 
effusion to hypnotism. Certainly that is a mild 
word in this connection. How a Southern man who 
had g-iven his services to the Confederate cause can 
find anything- excusable in the character of Gen. 
Sherman, as evidenced in his manner of conducting- 
warfare, is passing- strange. The effusive paper 
oug-lit to be read by every living- sufferer from 
Sherman's loving(?) method of making- warfare. 

Classed with Butler the beast, Miles the malic- 
ious, Neal the outlaw, and Pope the pestiferious, 
Sherman the savag-e g-oes down into that infamy 
that must halo his memory as long- as the pag-es of 
history tell the truth of the great tragedy of 1864 
and 1865. 

G. N. Saussy. 



REMINISCENCES. 211 

A Touching Tribute to the Memory of the 
Late General Sherman by "Uncle Bob" 
Howard. 

Editor Enquirer-Sun: For what purpose does this 
second edition of the Slierman family make its 
appearance "Marcliing througfh Georg-ia," heralded 
by an escort of United States soldiers to announce its 
aug-ust appearance as though it were a conquering- 
hero on a triumphal march from fields of gore and 
glory to receive the plaudits and exultant shouts of 
countless thousands? It may be that the Reverend 
Father comes to say final mass o'er the shades of his 
daddy in expiation for the countless and heinous 
crimes he had committed in Georgia when he publicly 
proclaimed that "war is hell," and that he would 
prosecute it on that basis, and verily proved his 
assertion. It may be that the son wishes to see with 
his own eyes the monument of damnable infamj'^ 
erected by his father on a base forty miles wide, ex- 
tending from Dalton, Ga., to Greensboro, N. C. Will 
Atlanta throw wide open her gates, receive, wine, 
dine and lick all the dust from his boots, as she did 
when she entertained the General after the war 
ended? 

There are times when Atlanta is a mighty sweet, 
pretty girl; then again, she is powerful naughty. 
It may be that the young man is looking for his 
daddy among the scenes where he acted so base a 



212 REMINISCENCES. 

part; however, he will not find him here, but if he will 
chang-e his line of march from a horizontal line to a 
vertical one and follow it far enougfh he can locate 
Tecumseh Sherman, the modern Draco of the world's 
history. "It will be more tolerable for Tyre and 
Sidon at the judgment" than for him. 

R. M. Howard. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Appropriate Exercises Held at the Chase 
Auditorium Last Night. 



"Uncle Bob" Howard Thrilled Audience. 



Program Was Short and Simple, but None 

THE Less Interesting and Enjoyable 

TO Those Present. 



The 104th anniversary of the birth of General 
Robert Edward Lee, the South's g-reatest chieftain, 
was fitting-ly and impressively celebrated at the 
Chase Auditorium last evening-, the exercises being- 
held under the auspices of Camp Benning, United 
Confederate Veterans. 

The attendance upon the exercises was very good, 
though the scant number of old veterans who were 
honored with the front rows of seats clearly im- 
pressed the observer that the heroes of the Lost 
Cause are annually g-rowing- fewer and fewer. As is 
usually the case in such an assembly, the appearance 
of these old soldiers was very pathetic and touching. 
As stated yesterday, the members of the camp as- 



214 REMINISCENCES. 

sembled at their bivouac in the court house and 
marched to the auditorium in a body, thoug-h some 
went direct to the scene of the exercises. 

The evening- 's program was begun with an earnest 
invocation by Rev. Bascom Anthony, the beloved 
pastor of St. Luke Church, and then Miss Lucile 
Harrison sweetly sang a beautiful solo, entitled "A 
Dream," which was greatly enjoyed by those present. 

After Miss Harrison's song. Col. Robert M. How- 
ard — "Uncle Bob" — was presented by Commander 
Wra. Shepherd, of Camp Benning, who was master 
of ceremonies, and as "Uncle Bob" ascended the 
rostrum to make his address as orator of the 
occasion, he was greeted with a hearty cheer by his 
comrades. "Uncle Bob" appeared at his best, and 
his address was listened to with close and rapturous 
attention throughout. 

THE ADDRESS. 

The address by Colonel Howard was as follows: 
Ladies, Comrades and Gentleman: As long as 
the lusty eagle shall wing his lofty flight to snow- 
capped peaks; as long- as the breeze shall bear the 
billow's foam, so long will Dixie's brave sons and 
Dixie's peerless daughters annually meet and pay 
their tribute of sweet love to the memory of the 
South's matchless chieftain, Robert Edward Lee. 
No one people can claim, no one country appropriate 
a man whose grandeur stands before the world 



REMINISCENCES. 215 

without spot or blemish, a boon of Providence to 
the human race; his fame is eternal and his resi- 
dence creation. 

Our own gfifted Ben Hill paid this beautiful 
tribute: "When the future historian comes to sur- 
vey the character of Lee he will find it rising- like a 
hug-e mountain above the undulating- plain of 
humanity, and will have to lift his eyes toward 
Heaven to catch its summit. He possessed every 
virtue of the other great commanders without their 
vices. He was a foe without hate, a friend without 
treachery, a soldier without cruelty, a victim with- 
out murmuring-. He was a public officer without 
vices, a private citizen without wrong, a neighbor 
without reproach, a Christian without hypocrisy, a 
man without guile. He was a Caesar without his am- 
bition, a Frederick without his tyranny, a Napoleon 
without his selfishness, and a Washing-ton without his 
reward. He was as obedient to authority as a true 
king-. He was as gentle as a woman in life, pure 
and modest as a virg-in in thought, watchful as a 
Roman vestal in duty, submissive to law as a Soc- 
rates, and grand in battle as Achilles." 

When General Lee died a g-reat life closed, a life 
upon which the long-er we ling-er, the more we shall 
find to love and revere, for it was one over which 
virtue will scarce breathe a sigh and to which fame 
could hardly add a chaplet. It was a life which in 
every season, relation and employment was crowned 



216 REMINISCENCES. 

with all that wins the affection and commands the 
homag-e of mankind. It was a life in which the hero 
of a Lost Cause became the centre of that admiring- 
contemplation which is wont to follow the conquerer 
in his ovations, and in which achievements of arms 
as brilliant as ever blazoned a warrior's crest or 
adorned a nation's story were so ennobled by the 
exhibition of the nobility of soul with which they 
were associated, that we almost lose sig^ht of the 
soldier in g-azing on the image of the g-rander man. 
It was a life which spanned the extremes of triumph 
and of calamity, but which was so transfigured by 
faith, hope and charity that its lines of suffering- are 
even more lustrous than its lines of g"lory. If other 
lives have been sown more thickly with the g-litter- 
ing stars of human honor, or have rejoiced more 
abundantly in the gfifts of earthly fortune, none have 
been more richly dowered with the love of man or 
more divinely radiant with the beatitudes of God. 
Death which withers the roses and flowers of kingfs 
and lays in dust the pride and pomp of ambition has 
no power over such a life, but to touch it with lines 
of Heaven and seal it for immortality. 

On you, my countrymen, has descended with a 
solemn emphasis of oblig-ation its sacred charg-e of 
fame. On our children and our children's children, 
on distant nations and remote ages, on that col- 
lective humanity which it has elevated and adorned, 
let the g-rand example shine. I know not how long- 



REMINISCENCES. 217 

men may be found who refuse reverence to the great 
character of Robert E. Lee in consequence of partic- 
ipation in our strug-gle for independence, but I do 
know that no calumny can darken his fame, for 
history has lig-hted up his imag^e with her everlast- 
ing- lamp; that no malice can profane his tomb, for 
the whole earth has become his sepulchre, and that 
no power can hush that funeral-march which followed 
him to the grave and yet fills the world with the 
music of sorrow, for it is beaten bj^ the loving pulses 
of the stricken hearts of his countrymen. 

Our grand old mountains throughout this entire 
Southland will ever stand fitting- monuments to the 
everlasting memory of Robert E. Lee; and as long 
as their gray summits shall catch the early rays of 
morning or hold lovingly the last, lingering flush of 
the setting day; as long as the crystal streams, 
g-ushing- from their rocky sides, shall flow onward to 
the sea, so long will every wind that wakes the 
moaning of the mountain pines, and every breeze 
that stirs the echoes of the valley continue to 
prolong the mighty dirge of the South 's woe for the 
immortal name of Robert E. Lee, 

"Who fell devoted but undying: 
The very gale his name is sighing; 
The silent pillar, cold and gray, 
Claims kindred with his sacred clay; 
His spirit wraps the dusky mountain; 
His memory sparkles o'er the fountain, 
Our smallest rill, our mightiest river, 
Boll mingling with his fame forever." 



218 REMINISCENCES. 

History will inscribe his fame on fadeless scrolls, 
poetry will embalm it in imperishable song's, sculp- 
ture and painting- will pour around it their brig-htest 
inspiration, eloquence on its successive anniversaries 
will awaken it as with a trumpet of resurrection to 
g-lory agfain and on the undying- echoes of tradition 
"it will roll from soul to soul and g-row forever and 
forever." 

With what ag^ony duty shook his soul when, with 
8,000 of his unwhipped braves, surrounded on all 
sides by Grant and his countless thousands to which 
humanity demanded that he should surrender, may 
be inferred from the exclamation, "I would rather 
die a thousand deaths." Indeed the temptation 
seems most powerfully to have assailed his heroic 
spirit to ride along- the lines to find a soldier's 
grave . 

"But, then," as he said to General Gordon, 
"what will become of the women and children of 
the South?" 

"Yes, by a sacrifice nobler than death, live— live 
to pour into the bosoms of your countrymen a 
reviving- tide of hope; live to illustrate to the world 
the g-lory of magnanimous suffering; live to exhibit 
the immortal sentiment that 'human virtue should 
be equal to human calamity.' " 

Over the mournful incidents of that closing: scene, 
incidents which our people will never read except 
through dimming: tears, I drop the veil. But none 



REMINISCENCES. 219 

could have been brought in contact with him in that 
dark hour of the soul's crucifixion without behold- 
ingr the majesty with which his soul rose triumphant 
above the weakness of the flesh, the steadiness with 
which his gaze was bent through all the spectral 
gloom which enveloped the path of dut3^ and the 
fixed purpose which he manifested to follow it 
"through the long gorge to the far light." 

In all the galaxy of Fame the brightest star 
receives its crowning brilliancy from the spotless life 
and blameless character of Robert Edward Lee, 
who was greatest in war and grandest in peace. 

"His footprints die not on Fame's crimsoned sod, 
But will ring through her song and her story; 
He fought like a Titan and struck like a god, 
And his dust Is our ashes of glory." 



I also delivered the above address to the pupils 
and patrons of the Columbus Female Seminary (con- 
ducted by Misses Snyder), on Gen. Lee's birthday, 
January 19th, 1910, and was introduced by my 
sweet, charming little friend, Loretto Lamar Chap- 
pell as follows: 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I hope you know that I 
know that I could not introduce 'Uncle Bob Howard' 
to any man, woman or child in Columbus, or Georgia, 
or all the Southern States. He is an institution, and 
we are too proud of him and what he stands for to 



280 REMINISCENCES. 

suffer any strang-er to leave our g-ates not knowing" 
him. In all the land there was only one man so 
benighted as to ask, 'Who is Colonel Robert 
Howard?' And he was told, 'He is a Confederate 
soldier, an unreconstructed Rebel who g^ave four 
years of his young- manhood to active fig-hting for 
the principles of the Confederacy and is ready, now 
and always, 'for Dixie, dear old Dixie, to lay him 
down and die.' 

"It is our privilege to-day to hear from such a 
soldier of 'Marse Robert' Lee," 



CHAPTER XVI 



Several years ago Atlanta held a Re-union of the 
Blue and the Gray (a mig-hty naug-hty girl she was, 
too, and needed a g^enteel spanking- — however, "To 
err is human, to forg-ive Divine") at which General 
Shaw, Commander of the G. A. R., thus spoke on the 
stag-e : "I stand before you, a representative of the 
G. A. R., and I am proud to say that G. A. R. men 
have done much to teach the South what courag-e and 
true manhood is." I replied to him in the papers. 
I told many men that I would think him to death in 
six months ; in just six months and two weeks hell 
received another delegate from Boston. Truly, "the 
prayers of the rig-hteous availeth much." 

In 1839, 1 visited Atlanta (then known as Marthas- 
ville), and started her on a boom, and from that grood 
day to this, her prog-ress has been rapidly upward 
and onward ; and when a Southern Democrat shall 
become President of this glorious Government, where 
"the days in the West are so long- the clocks run 
down at noon, and always twice in every month we 
have a most glorious full moon," then will Atlanta 
point with pride to New York City as her beautiful 
Northern suburb, and to New Orleans as her grand 
Southern vicinage, and defiantly say to her dear old 



222 REMINISCENCES. 

Uncle Sam, "You can't keep a g"ood man down, nor 
a squirrel on the g-round." 

" Of all the mighty nations In the East or In the West, 
This glorious Yankee nation Is the greatest and the best; 
We have room for all creation and our banner Is unfurled ; 
Here's a general invitation to the people of the world, 
Then come along, come from every nation, come from every way. 
Our lands are broad enough, and don't you be alarmed. 
For Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm. 
While the South will raise the cotton and the West the corn and 

pork, 
New England manufactories will do up the finer work, 
For the great and mighty water-falls that course along our hills 
Are just the things for washing sheep and turning cotton mills." 



Thirty years ag-o I heard a noted Baptist minister 
in Boone County, Ky., preach from the text: "What- 
soever ye SOW, that ye shall reap." He related the 
following- incident, which he knew was literally true: 
In a battle in Virg-inia during- the Civil War the 
Federal Army was repulsed with great slaug-hter as 
it heroically charged our breastworks; as it retired 
a short distance and began to reform for another 
charg-e, a wounded Federal but a few paces in front 
of our lines was piteously begging- for water; a 
private Confederate asked his captain's permission 
to carry his canteen of water to the wounded enemy; 
the captain replied that it would be instant death 
to him but that he would not forbid him doing 
so magnanimous a deed, upon which this g-lorious 
hero leaped over the works, rushed to his enemy 



REMINISCENCES. 223 

and g-ave him his canteen; the Federal asked his 
friend his name and postoffice at liome, which he 
wrote on a piece of paper. The war produced no 
grander, more g-lorious hero in either army than 
this private Confederate soldier, who so fearlessly 
faced dang-er and death in ministering- to his 
wounded enemy whose life blood was fast ebbing: 
away for want of water. A short time after the war 
ended this true Christian, who loved his fellow man 
as he loved himself, received throug-h the mail a 
draft for $5,000.00 from the wounded enemy whose 
life he had more than probably saved . ' ' 

"When gratitude o'erflows the swelling heart, 
And breathes In free and uncorrupted praise 
For benefits received; propitious heaven 
Takes such acknowledgement as fragrant incense 
And doubles all its blessings." 

A short time since, I read a g-lorious tribute from 
a Federal soldier to the gTeat g-allantry and daunt- 
less courag-e of a Confederate colonel in a most for- 
lorn and desperate charg-e made ag-ainst the Federal 
breastworks at Malvern Hill in 1862. He said after 
the reg-iment had been almost completely annihi- 
lated, the small remnant momentarily wavered, 
upon which the fearless Colonel in front of his 
g-allant few shouted out at the top of his voice: 
"Come on men; do you Avant to live forever?" 



Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War in the 
Cabinet of Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, who 



224 REMINISCENCES. 

was elected President in 1852. U. S. Grant, with a 
commission in the United States Army, had been a 
g^allant officer in our war with Mexico; charg-es of 
drunkenness and conduct unbecoming- an officer and 
a g-entleman were preferred against Grant; Davis 
(rather than have him court-martialed and cash- 
iered, which would have forever prevented him from 
holding- any office, either civil or military, in the 
Government) allowed him to resig"n and, but for the 
nobility of heart of Jefferson Davis, the name of 
U. S. Grant would nowhere emblazon the pag-es of 
history in this or any other g-overnment on earth. 
However, be it said to the great credit of Grant that 
he never made war on helpless women and children; 
he warred onlj^- ag-ainst armed soldiers facing him 
in battle. 

A short time after General Lee's surrender, the 
infamous Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War, 
ordered the arrest and confinement in prison of Gen. 
Lee. As soon as Grant heard of this order, he told 
Stanton, in lang-uag-e that no preacher even would 
think, to rescind that order, and that he would use 
the entire United States Army to prevent the arrest 
or confinement of General Lee. General Lee was 
never arrested. And here we of the South can 
afford to drop a tear to the memory of the departed 
g-reatness (which he never had) of Teddy Roosevelt, 
the wild man of Borneo. One of his last official acts 
before retiring- from the presidencj^ was to have the 



REMINISCENCES. 225 

honored name of Jefferson Davis restored to its 
place on Cabin John Bridg-e, which had been removed 
by Stanton during- the Civil War. Let us "g^ive the 
devil his due" and remember that while none are all 
g-ood, none are all bad, and that "All that g-listers 
is not g-old," nor is everything that wears a coat and 
pair of breeches a real true man. Teddy sometimes 
reminds me of my dear old friend, Bob Thweatt, 
who some years ago gave his entire dray line, mules 
and all, to his drivers upon receipt of a bogus tel- 
eg-ram, played on him by the boys, informing- him 
that he had just drawn the capital prize of $150,000 
in the Havana Lottery. Yes, Teddy and Bob are a 
pair of "Sui Generis." There is no connection be- 
tween their brains and their tong-ues. The former 
utterly ignores the beautiful precept, "Silence is 
g-olden;" and Bob, the same true loving- friend that 
he was twenty-one years ag-o when he stuck to me 
like a brother throug-h thick and thin, as I languish- 
ed in your ding-y prison walls — but it is nevertheless 
a fact that he played "Injun-giver" with Ma,nuel, 
who is still his man "Friday," and Bob yet owns 
the dray line. 



I have delivered Memorial Addresses as follows: 

Columbus, 1897; Talbotton, 1903; Hawkinsville, 

1904 (where the old boys told me they would make me 

the next Governor of Georg-ia; I informed them that 

I was a candidate for only one thing-, and that was a 



226 REMINISCENCES. 

candidate for heaven, to which they promptly 
replied, "You are already unanimously elected"); 
Barnesville, 1906; Albany, 1907; Hamilton, 1908; 
Cuthbert, 1909; Pensacola, Pla., 1910, and Dawson, 
1911. I made the first Lee Memorial Address in 
Columbus and have made three since then. 



By the way, I recently heard of a nigfg"er preacher, 
preaching- on the Creation, who said that Adam was 
reclining' on the bank of a beautiful river, surrounded 
on all sides by mag^nificent flowers, enchanting- 
scenery, and everything that was lovely ; that God 
found him in this ideal place of peace and rest, and 
Adam said : "God, I'm mighty lonesome here," and 
that God took Adam's brains and made Eve. Fol- 
lowing- this theory to its log^ical results proves con- 
clusively that woman has the wisdom and virtues of 
the world — man, its follies and vices. 



I came from Indian Territory in 1906 in the interest 
of Hoke Smith for Governor. He was elected. The 
day Joe Brown announced for Governor in 1908 (Hoke 
Smith being a candidate for re-election), I wrote 
Hoke as follows : "If you don't beat Little Joe for 
Governor, you or I will have to leave the State, as I 
cannot breathe the same atmosphere in the State 
with a man who can't beat Little Joe for anything." 
A few days thereafter, I received the following- : 



REMINISCENCES. 227 

" Dear Uncle Bob: Your brief letter received, duly 
appreciated, and contents noted. I take great 'pleasure 
in saying that tieither one of us will have to leave Georgia. 

"Sincerelj'^ yours, 

Hoke Smith." 

The primary was held, the ballots counted, and 
Hoke Smith was completely snowed out of sig^ht by 
an avalanche of Brown ballots, upon which I wrote 
thusly: 

"Dear Governor:— According- to mutual ag-ree- 
ment, moving- time has come, which shall it be, you 
or I ? Pick your flint and come ag-ain. 

"Very sincerely, 

Uncle Bob." 

He was suddenly attacked with a severe spell of 
gone-hurrahs and never deigned to answer my letter. 
But Hoke did come ag-ain and, playing- "Tit for 
tat," caused Little Joe to say: "Where was Moses 
when the lig-ht went out?" The peer of any man in 
the Government, Hoke Smith has now been elected 
United States Senator from Georg-ia, and will 
certainly tell the Yankee Doodles "where Tony hid 
the wedg-e." Should the Democratic party, with 
"Wisdom, Justice and Moderation," use the political 
power it now has and safely anchor the old ship of 
State to her mooring-s under the Constitution, as 
established by its fathers, Hoke Smith may be 
elected President of this g-reat Government in 1916; 



REMINISCENCES. 



if SO, and I am still living-, then, with dear old 
Simeon of the days of the blessed Savior of man, I 
will say: "And now Lord lettest Thy servant 
depart in peace." 



The following' are copies of clipping's from our 
daily papers: 

"She Plays a Joke on 'Uncle Bob.' 

His Best Girl Drops Him a Postal Card from 
Atlanta about Politics. 

" 'Uncle Bob' Howard's 'best g^irl' has the joke on 
him. She has written him from Atlanta, and he is 
at a loss to know what her real name and address is. 
'Uncle Bob' received the following- post card through 
the mail from the Capital City yesterday: 

" 'Uncle Bob:' You are snowed under, but Little 
Joe will 'come back.' Can you carry Muscogee for 
Brown? 

Your Best Girl." 

This appears on the address side of the card. On 
the reverse side are pictures of the State Capitol, of 
Governor Hoke Smith, and the stamp of the seal of 
the State. The following is written: 

"Your teleg-ram received, but I prefer the Senate 
to the Capitol." 



REMINISCENCES. 229 

There is no signature to this, but it is assumed 
that it is in reply to the telegram sent to Governor 
Smith by "Uncle Bob" on Monday last, reading- as 
follows : 

"Caesar plung-ed the Rubicon, and Rome was no 
long-er free. Beware of July 11, 1911, and remain 
Governor of Georg^ia." 

"Uncle Bob" has not replied to the card received 
yesterday. He stated last nig-ht that he wanted his 
best g-irl to send her real name and address, so he 
can do so. He stated to a reporter of the Enquirer- 
Sim what his answer would be. It is as follows: 

"Yes, I can carry Muscogee for Brown, but it will 
be Pope Brown and not Little Joe." 



How My Friend, Dr. Gordy, Saved My Life. 

The day before Dr. Gordy left Columbus for the 
meeting of the last session of the Legislature, of 
which he was a member, he asked me if there was 
any special bill I would like to have passed. I 
replied: "Have a new officer appointed, or elected, 
whose official duty shall be to shoot all the P. D. 
Phools in Georgia, and particularly in Muscogee 
County, and that I wanted the appointment as chief 
shooter." 

On the adjournment of the Legislature I tackled my 
good friend on failing to make good his promise to 
me. He replied that he could have easily passed the 



280 REMINISCENCES. 

bill, but that he knew Governor Brown would not 
have appointed me, and that, whoever he did 
appoint, I would have been the first P. D. P. shot 
in Georg-ia under the new law. Should I aspire 
to another State appointment I will certainly file 
my application with Governor Pope Brown and 
^^ Little Joe^^ will have no authority to have me shot. 
I hear that my best g-irls will soon present to my 
gfood friend. Dr. Gordy, a beautiful chromo with 
proper inscription, for saving- my life, so that I 
may continue to make sweet love to them. 



" 'Uncle Bob' after Senatorial Honors. 
Thinks Gov. Smith Should Appoint Him to 
Fill Out Unexpired Term of Senator Ter- 
rell. 

" 'Uncle Bob' Howard, whom everybody knows to 
be a warm admirer of Governor Hoke Smith, came 
to the Ledger office to-day and stated that he had 
reached the point where he could offer a happy 
solution to the present Senatorial muddle in Georgia. 

"The solution which he thinks would be a most 
admirable one, is nothing- more or less than having- 
Gov. Smith appoint himself ('Uncle Bob') to fill out 
the unexpired term of Senator Terrell in the United 
States Senate, to last until December first. 

"Should Gov. Smith adopt 'Uncle Bob's' sug-g-es- 
tion, it would mean that the latter would have a 



REMINISCENCES. 231 

salary of about three thousand plunks coming" to him 
during- the summer season, and there would be but 
very little work for him to do while drawing- the coin 
of the realm. Then, too, 'Uncle Bob' believes that 
he could harmonize the warring- factions in Georg-ia 
politics, for if he were to g-et the Senatorial tog-a, 
he could use his 'big stick' on the unwary heads of 
the belig-erents and make them toe the line whether 
they wanted to or not." 



(Copy of letter received.) 

"Atlanta, Georgia, July 17, 1911. 

"Col. R. M. Howard, 

Columbus, Georgia. 

"My Dear Col. Howard: — 

"You will please accept my sincere thanks for 
yours of the 14th instant. I certainly appreciate 
your kind letter. In case I come to Columbus, it will 
g-ive me gfreat pleasure to see and have a talk with 
you. Your clipping- is very interesting-, and such 
little episodes add to the spice of life. I will send 
this to my home papers and it will interest many of 
your g-ood friends there. 

"Ag-ain thanking- you, I remain, 

"Yours very truly. 

Pope Brown." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

"Uncle Bob" Howard's First and Last Epistle 
TO THE Yankee Doodles of Doodledom. 

WOE unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, 
you strain at a g'nat, and bodaciously swallow a 
nigfgfer without grease or g"runt, and why? Not that 
you love the nig-gfer less but that you hate the 
Southern people more, and thus strive to force your 
odoriferous pets and pests upon us that you may 
humiliate and degrade us. You landed your old 
Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, Mass., in 1620, and 
opened the Pandora Box that gave birth to all the 
ills, isms and troubles with which this country has 
been cursed. You went to the jungles of Africa and 
brought into this country countless thousands of 
vicious wild beasts that were nothing more or less 
than monkeys that had shed their tails and got upon 
their hind feet. In your greed for gold, and against 
the wishes and earnest protest of the South, you 
established African slavery in this country; the slave 
trade was carried on exclusively by Northern men and 
Northern money. In the early history of the slave 
trade, no slave could be landed on Georgia soil with- 
out having first paid a per capita tax of $100 in gold. 
In South Carolina it was $75. In 1788, the slave trade 



REMINISCENCES. 233 

was abolished by the Federal Government and the 
Act abolishing- it was so framed and passed that it 
could not g-o into effect until the expiration of the 
year 1808, and these goody, gfoody hypocrites, 
South-haters, no long^er able to steal with impunity 
nig-g-ers in Africa and sell them for gold with which 
to fill their yawning- pockets, quit the nigg^er busi- 
ness by selling- out to the South, little, big-, young- 
and old. If a Puritan ever freed a nig-g-er, it was 
after the nigger was dead. You produced the arch- 
traitor and fiend, Benedict Arnold, who for $10,000. 
in gold, and a commission in the British Army, 
basely betrayed his country to its enemies. In the 
war with Eng-land of 1812 many of you were Tories, 
aiding- and abetting the enemy with blue lig-hts to 
warn them of danger. Upon the admission of Texas 
as a State of the Federal Union, in 1814, you seri- 
ously threatened to secede from the Union. The 
South said: "Joy g-o with you and peace behind you; 
you have a rigfht to secede." For many years be- 
fore the Civil War the cadets of the U. S. Military 
Academy at West Point, N. Y., were daily taugrht 
from text books, adopted by the Government, that 
any State or number of States had a perfect right to 
secede whenever they so decided. You have long- 
boasted that you were the civilization, culture, in- 
tellect and moralitj^ of this Government. Have you 
forg-otten the burning fagots you piled hig-h over the 
bodies of innocent, pure, helpless women, chained to 



234 REMINISCENCES. 

the stakes, and their agfonizing' shrieks, dying on the 
very portals of Heaven, as they were burnt for 
being- witches? Do you see the innocent blood as it 
crimsons the sod of that land of fanatics and hypo- 
crites, as they worship at the altar of Baal? Do 
you hear the wails of husbands and fathers as they 
are being- punished for kissing- their wives and chil- 
dren on Sunday? Do you remember canonizing- 
Henry W, Beecher as a saint and afterward arraig-n- 
ing- him in court for many weeks for nest-hiding with 
his fascinating- affinity, Elizabeth Tilton? Do you 
remember the more you stirred this black pool of 
filth and slime, the more g-laring became the clerical 
apostasy of this base wolf, as he posed in the wool 
of an innocent lamb, and that the best you could do 
for him was to whitewash him with tar? Did you read 
some statistics published not long- since stating that 
there were more than ten thousand illegitimate 
children living- in the City of Boston, the Paris of 
America? Have you forgotten that the Act passed 
by the Federal Congress and declared Constitutional 
by the United States Supreme Court, known as the 
Fug-itive Slave Law, was that any slave escaping- 
from his owner into another State should be delivered 
to his owner when captured? Do you know that most 
of your State Legislatures nullified this law and 
had what was known as an underg-round railway to 
aid slaves to escape into Northern States? Upon a 
strictly sectional platform, pledged to leg-islate 



REMINISCENCES. 286 

agfainst the rigfhts and property of the South in the 
Union, you elected Lincoln President in 1860 with a 
majority of more than eight hundred thousand of 
the popular vote against him. Lincoln was a despot 
and usurper, a base perjurer; he maliciously and 
intentionally violated his sacred oath of office after 
having- solemnly sworn to enforce the Constitution. 
Lincoln, and he alone, could have prevented the 
firing of a single gun. The assertion that the Civil 
War was waged by the North for the preservation 
and perpetuity of the Union is a most infamous and 
damnable lie. Envy and jealousy on account of the 
prosperity and political power of the South in the 
Union gave birth to civil war between the two sec- 
tions, and whoever says to the contrary should be 
deeply bored for the simples. You slaughtered one 
million human lives on the altar of sectional hatred 
and blind fanaticism, and for what? That you fain 
would accept and put into effect your most damnable 
dogma: "That the nigger is the equal of and as 
good as a white man." 

"Consider all thy actions and take heed, 
On stolen bread, though it is sweet to feed. 
Sin, like a bee, unto thy hive may bring 
A little honey, but expect the sting. 

"Thou may'st conceal thy sin by cunning art. 
But conscience sits a witness in thy guilty heart, 
Which will disturb thy peace, thy rest undo. 
For that Is witness, judge and prison too." 

Was it in the South or in the North that a law 
was passed prescribing that a person, if once con- 



236 REMINISCENCES. 

victed of being: a Quaker, should lose one ear; if twice 
convicted, should lose another ear ; and if convicted 
the third time of the diabolical crime of Quakerism, 
was to be bored throug-h the tong-ue with a red hot 
iron? Was it in the South or in the North that a 
penalty was inflicted on any one who entertained a 
Quaker, and men and women were banished on pain 
of death and hungf for being- Quakers? Was it in the 
South or in the North that decrepit old men were 
hung- and pressed to death and pure women were torn 
from their children and jailed and hung- as witches ? 
Was it in the South or in the North that children were 
tied neck and heels tog^ether till the blood was ready 
to g-ush from them to make them swear falsely 
against their own mother, accused of being a witch? 
Was it in the Carolinas or Massachusetts, that men 
were hung for denying the existence of witchcraft ? 
And were they of the South or the North, the 
preachers and judges who incited and applauded 
jailing and banishing- and torturing and slaughter- 
ing of Quakers, and where were they who were wont 
to go from church, from the altar of God, to the 
whipping post to see women whipped on the bare 
back? And where was it that negro children were 
sold by the pound, like so much beef or bacon, and 
what Colony was it that passed a statute offering 
£100 per scalp for the scalps of twelve - year - old 
Indian boys, and that, too, at a time when no Indian 
war was going on there? To each and all of these 



REMINISCENCES. 237 

questions history with its inexorable, unerring- pen 
answers "Massachusetts." And where was it that 
a few years ago the skin of persons who had died as 
paupers of an almshouse was tanned and made into 
articles of merchandise? And what of Beast Butler, 
the devil's vicegerent of damnable infamy, who 
was Governor of Massachusetts after the Civil War 
ended, who says that this is an absolute fact, that 
human skins were used as merchandise in Massachu- 
setts. But enough, what more need be said of a 
people who boast that they are the civilization, cul- 
ture, intellect and morality of this civilized world? 
God save the mark! 

And now, dear, sweet, delightful Yankee Doodle 
Dandies, who flourish on wooden nutmegs and fatten 
on wooden hams, I bid you a sweet "au revoir," and 
when God in His great love and mercy shall have par- 
doned you for your many great sins of g^eneral cuss- 
edness, then we of the dear old Land of Dixie will be 
willing to discuss the question of forgetfulness and 
seek to bury the dark past in Lethe's seething waters 
of oblivion, and fondly clasping loving hands across 
the deep, bloody chasm, say each to the other : 

"This Is still our country, zealous yet modest, 
Innocent though free, patient of toll, serene amid alarms, 
Inflexible In faith. Invincible In arms." 

And with the same God, the same country, the 
same flag defiantly floating- to the propitious breezes 
of Heaven on every land and every sea, proudly say 



238 REMINISCENCES. 

to the world that this is the best, grandest and most 
g-lorious Government on God's green earth. 



'A VOICE FROM THE CORN." 

"I come as a blessing 

When put Into the mill; 
As a blight and a curse 
When run through a still. 

"Make me up Into loaves, 
And your children are fed; 
But Into a drink, 
And I starve them Instead. 

"In bread I'm a servant, 

The eater shall rule; 

In drink I'm a master; 

The drinker's a Cool. 

"Then remember my warning— 

My strength I'll employ; 
If eaten, to strengthen, 
If drunken, to destroy." 

— SuTtday-School Timet. 



They Were Bred in Old Kentucky. 

A lady friend of "Uncle Bob" Howard sent him 
the following from the New York Herald: 

"Kentucky has long been known for the mother of 
wit and eloquence as well as the State of feuds. 
This State produced her Henry Clay, her Breckin- 
ridges, her Wattersons, her Crittendens, her Cal- 



REMINISCENCES. 239 

liouns, aud now she is coming- forward witli a new 
school of orators, scholars and poets. 

"W. B. Kimball, formerly Representative, easily 
heads the list as an after-dinner speaker and has a 
close second in Colonel Georgfe Bain, the well-known 
temperance lecturer, while Judg-e James Mullig^an 
is a real wit and poet. 

"It was while in Boston delivering- a lecture to a 
choice crowd of blue stocking- temperance people 
that Colonel Bain was accosted with the question: 

" 'How is it, Colonel Bain, that you have the 
nerve to preach temperance when you come from 
Kentucky, the State that has more distilleries than 
any other State in the Union?' 

"For a moment, and only for a moment, Colonel 
Bain was embarrassed. Then came the Tei)ly with- 
out any hesitancy: — 

" 'Oh yes! Kentucky — Kentucky, the State where 
I was born; 

'Where the corn is full of kernels and the 
Colonels full of corn.' 

"Returning- home from Washington after serving- 
his term in Congress, a banquet was tendered to Mr. 
Kimball. He had expected to make a speech in 
which he would review his Cong-ressional career. 
To his surprise, the toastmaster did not call for this, 
but asked Mr. Kimball to respond to the toast, 
'Kentucky.' The Congfressman was clearly at a loss, 
and in sheer desperation he blurted out: — 



240 REMINISCENCES. 

'Kentucky — f-a-i-r Kentucky!' Here he stopped 
to sip a drink of water. When he resumed there was 
no hint of hesitancy. 

'Kentucky — the grandest State in all the Union 
— the State where the g-round is so mellow that all 
you have to do is to tickle its sides and it yields 
abundant crops. Kentucky, O Kentucky! where the 
grass is g-reener, where the sky is bluer, where the 
whiskey is better, where the women are more 
beautiful, where the horses are faster, where politics 
is rottener, where the feuds are thicker, where the 
mountains are hig"her and where the valleys are 
lower than in any other State in tlie Union! 

" 'Why, my God, gfentlemen, believe me, the 
mountains are so damned liig"h in Kentucky that 
from the topmost mountain peak you may reach up 
and tickle the feet of sainted Democrats who have 
g"one before. 

'And, g"entlemen,' here Kimball's voice dropped- 
to almost a whisper, 'the valleys are so infernally 
low that you may reach down and hand ice-water to 
the Republicans who have g"one below: — ' 

"But it remains for Judg-e James Mullig-an to reel 
off poetrj^ extemporaneouslj^ by the foot, yard or 
mile. 

"Recently the Democrats of Kentucky suffered a 
crushing- defeat and commiserated one another at a 
spread. One of the speakers had declared that in 
his opinion Democracy' was dead. Judg-e Mullig-an 



REMINISCENCES. 241 

followed him with what was considered by those 
present as a fitting- rebuke. Here it is: — 

WHEN DEMOCRACY WILL DIE. 

"When the Hon eats grass like an ox 

And the flshworm swallows the whale, 
When the terrapin knits wool socks, 

VV'hen the bare is outrun by the snail, 
When serpents walk upright like men 

And doodle bugs travel like frogs. 
When the grasshopper feeds on the hen 

And feathers are found on hogs; 
When Thomas cats swim in the air 

And elephants roost upon trees, 
When insects in summer are rare 

x\nd snuff never makes people sneeze, 
When the tish creep over dry land 

And mules on velocipedes ride. 
When foxes lay eggs in the sand 

And women in dress take no pride, 
When Dutchmen no longer drink beer 

And girls gei to preaching on time, 
When the billygoat butts from the rear 

And treason no longer is crime. 
When the humming bird brays like an ass 

And Liraburger smells like cologne, 
When ploughshares are jnade out of glass 

And hearts of Kentuckians are stone. 
When sense grows In Republican heads 

And wool on the hydraulic ram. 
Then the Democratic party will be dead 

And this country not wortli a d n." 



Not longr since at a concert by Al Fields in the 
Opera House in Columbus, Ga., I asked the audience 
to g-ive Fields a rising^ vote of thanks for a recent 

17 



242 REMINISCENCES. 

contribution of $100.00 with which to purchase liow- 
ers to decorate the g-raves of 2,250 of our immortal 
heroes buried at Camp Chase, Ohio, closing- as fol- 
lows: 

"There are fields of cotton and fields of g-rain, 
fields of g-rass and fields of cane, but none of these 
produce a sweeter, more bountiful harvest than does 
Al Fields, who from Columbus, Ohio, to Columbus, 
Georg-ia, takes the cake for pure unadulterated 
sweetness; and when the Doctor says I am dead, 
play Dixie, and if I don't squall, bury me, for I'll be 
dead sure enoug^h." 



About this time, a Divine Healer, professing' to 
cure all ills to which flesh is heir by merely the lay- 
ing- on of hands, g-ave an exhibition of his power in 
this Opera House. Quite a number suffering- from 
different ailments were treated and "cured;" finally 
an old man on crutches, requiring- three men to g-et 
him on the stag-e (he had been " paralyzed for fifteen 
years and deaf for fourteen") was carried up. In 
less than three minutes he was prancing- on the stag"e 
as frisky as a buck rabbit and could hear a flea hop 
across the street. I then read the following- wire- 
less teleg-ram: "R. M. Howard, Columbus, Georg-ia, 
I can no long-er conscientiously wear the champion 
belt for being- the big-g-est humbug- of the world, and 
willing-ly surrender it to the faker who is robbing- 
the people of your city, [Sig-ned] P. T. Barnum." 




'Uncle Bob" and his great nephew Augustus Howard Bickerstaff. Ji 

age eight months— Mascot of Camp Benning-l. C. V. Reunion 

at Columbus, Ga., October 19-2(), 1910. 



REMINISCENCES. 243 

The telegram broke up the meeting', but the healer, 
within the next few days, in his room at the Racine 
Hotel, robbed quite a number of the innocent and 
credulous of considerable money and mig-rated to 
other pastures g-reen. 



At the State Reunion of the United Confederate 
Veterans in Columbus, Ga., October, 1910, I pre- 
sented my g-reat nephew, eigfht months old, in a suit 
of Confederate Gray, on the stage of the Opera 
House, as follows: 

"I have the honor of presenting to you the Mascot 
of Camp Benning-, Augustus Howard Bickerstaff, 
Jr., and christen him in the everlasting faith of the 
rig-hteous cause for which Dixie fought the civilized 
world for four years and died." 



"(Special,.) 

"Chicago, III., July 17, 1909. 

"Startling charg^es were laid before the Southside 
Association of G. A. R. this afternoon, when Mrs. 
Myrtle McGowan, National Patriotic Instructor of 
the Woman's Relief Corps, stated to the veterans 
at a picnic held in Jackson Park that there were 
many schools in the South where the American flag' 
is not allowed to fly over the public schools. She 



244 REMINISCENCES. 

said she had just returned from a trip to Anderson- 
ville, Georg-ia, and that the principal of the school 
at Bainbridg-e, Georgia, not only refused the gift of 
a flag to his school, but had vehemently declared that 
not so long as he should be principal of the school 
would he allow the Stars and Stripes to be flown from 
the school mast. But this is not the only schoolhouse 
in the South that has refused to fly the American flag, 
declared Mrs. McGowan. Time and time again we 
have ofliered flags to the schools in the Southern 
States and have been told our flags are not wanted, 
that their ■sc/kxi/s do not u-se flmi^. It is m3^ duty to 
promote patriotic education, of course. It came 
into m.y province to inquire into these things. You 
would be surprised at the hostile spirit felt toward 
the North in some of their hot-blood districts; I 
must confess that this unkind feeling is felt more 
among the women than it is among even the old 
Confederate veterans themselves. These old vete- 
rans have passed upon old scores and are true and 
loyal citizens. It is the daughters and grand- 
daughters of the veterans who stir up things and 
hold resentment still against the North. This was 
certainly mainfested by the unveiling of a statue of 
Wirz, the Confederate butcher, who was executed 
by the order of the Governor of his State for 
his inhuman treatment of American prisoners in 
the horrible prison. The veterans and many of the 
best citizens of the South have been shocked and 



REMINISCENCES. 245 

grieved at the work of these women, who were re- 
sponsible for the unveiling- of that statue. When 
we went down there as representatives of the North, 
we received threats from these women that if our 
trains were not blown up sky-high they would tear 
away the tracks so that we would have to walk. I 
have also been looking over school books the3^ are 
issuing down there. Among other things I have 
found a great many new incidents of American 
history that I never had heard of before. These 
spectacular histories were found in Houston, Texas, 
and it was near there also they declared against 
flying the American flag over the schools. Mrs. 
McGowan said she had an annual fund of $500.00 to 
be expended solel}^ for Hags. It was in her distri- 
bution of flags, she said, that she had discovered the 
conditions which she alleges exist in certain locali- 
ties of the South. She said that in some of the 
schools where she had oifered flags Southern 
courtesy had in a measure taken the place of gruff 
refusal. This courtesy, she said, did not consist of 
politely declining the offer of the Woman's Relief 
Corps, but simply in ignoring the communication 
addressed to the board. It had been her experience, 
she said, that when no reply was received to the 
letters sent out by her department, the school board 
to whom the letters were addressed simply did not 
want the flags and trusted that a neglect of an 
answer would end the matter." 



246 REMINISCENCES. 

A friend sent "Uncle Bob" Howard the above 
.clipping-, and the following- is the reply to it: 

Except to woo, win and wear the true heart of 
fair woman, man is rarely justified in taking issue 
with her, and I do no violence to the beautiful pre- 
cept, "Silence is golden," when I reply to the above 
communication emanating from Mrs. Myrtle Mc- 
Gowan on her unwarranted attack on the United 
Daug-hters of the Confederacy^ in particlar and the 
South in general. 

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, 
The eternal years of God are hers, 
But error wounded writhes In pain 
And dies among its worshippers." 

"Vice for a time may shine and virtue sigh; 
But truth like Heaven's sun doth plainly reveal 
And scourge or crown what darkness did conceal." 

Next to the Church of God, the U. D. C. is the 
grandest, most glorious organization in the South, 
and as long as Heaven's g-littering dew drops shall 
kiss the blushing rose to bring forth her spotless 
beauty and matchless fragrance, so long- will the 
South 's peerless women perpetuate and transmit to 
this and to future g-enerations the truth and justice 
of the hallowed cause for which we for four years 
heroically fought the civilized world and g-loriously 
died, and will ever teach their children and their 
children's children that they may proudly, defiantly 



REMINISCENCES. 247 

point to the South 's record, as white as the everlast- 
ing" snows on the mountain's peak, and say to their 
God on His throne: "The South 's hands are gfuiltless 
of innocent blood during- the Civil War." And why 
this unjust attack of Mrs. McGowanV Because the 
U. D. C, in their deathless love for the heroes of the 
South, heive erected a monument of sweet love to the 
memory of the great martyr and g-rand hero, Captain 
Wirz, who was commander of the prison at Anderson- 
ville, Ga., where many thousand prisoners were con- 
fined during the war. Figuratively speaking-, Mrs. 
McGowan must have strained at a g-nat and boda- 
ciously swallowed, without grease or g-runt, a whole 
great big- lot of U. S. flag's which she had been unable 
to unload on school-houses in the South, where they 
should have been unfurled to the breezes of Heaven 
that they might promote patriotic education to the 
barbaric and benighted heathen of Dixie. Seriously 
and all joking- aside, I fear Mrs. McGowan has an 
acute attack of Phantasmasmag-raphical Aldabaron- 
deos-tafusticability, all of which will readily yeild to 
broken doses of elixir of common sense, mixed with 
numbers of doses of due regard for history and incon- 
trovertible facts, and as an expert in the terrible ail- 
ment that now prevents her from combobulating- on 
her complivity in her exalted position of teaching- 
patriotic education with the Stars and Stripes of this 
g-lorious Yankee Doodle Government, I guarantee a 
sure cure; no cure, no pay. 



248 REMINISCENCES. 

Will Mrs. McGowan please g"ive me name of the 
Governor and State by whom and b}" which Captain 
Wirz was hung- V 

Is it not a fact, my dear sister (to whom upon wing's 
of love, as an unreconstructed Rebel, I waft you 
kind g-reeting-s), that Captain Wirz, then a paroled 
prisoner of war, was carried to Washing-ton City soon 
after the war ended and tried by a military com- 
mission, org-anized to convicts Do you know, Mrs. 
McGowan, that after the conviction and sentence of 
Captain Wirz to death on the gallows by this drum- 
head commission; he was offered his freedom if he 
would say that Jefferson Davis was responsible for 
the cruelties and barbarities charg-ed by the United 
States Government as having- been inflicted on the 
Federal prisoners? Grand martja- and g-lorious hero ! 
Wirz proudly and deliantlj^ spurned the base offer 
and now doubtless wears a crown of fadeless g-lory 
in the beautiful Beyond. Does Mrs. McGowan 
know that the Federal Government was responsible 
for the death of every soldier buried at Anderson- 
ville by not exchang-ing- prisoners? Is it not a fact 
that the Confederate Government ofliered to deliver 
every prisoner at Andersonville to the Federals at 
Savannah without demanding- any Confederates in 
return? If our treatment of prisoners caused the 
death of so many of them, many times more g-uilty is 
the North of the crimes charg-ed ag-ainst us when 
twelve per cent, more of our prisoners died in 



REMINI8CENCES. 249 

Federal prisons than Federals died in Southern 
prisons. Will Mrs. McGowan please give me the 
names of the U. D. C. at Anderson ville who threat- 
ened that if the trains were not blown up sky-higfh 
they would tear up the track? Mrs. McGowan can 
rest assured that she and all her ilk can visit any 
part of the South and receive all the courtesy and 
respect due womanhood and particularly Anderson- 
ville where in the cemetery they can read on those 
maynilicent monuments the names of 13,000 Yankee 
murderers and bummers who left their homes in 
the North and came into our country with a sword 
in one hand and a torch in the other, with the 
avowed intention of putting- black heels on white 
necks, vice over virtue, barbarism over civili- 
zation, and committing- all the crimes and outrag"es 
known to the decalogfue, at which the civilized 
world stands ag-hast. And now in conclusion, my 
dear Mrs. McGowan, doubtless the possession of 
gfolden tresses, beautiful sparkling- eyes and a voice 
that trills soul inspiring- music, sweeter by far than 
Orpheus ever piped on his tender lute to his loved 
and lost Eurydice, I saj^ to you in all kindness and 
love, at this time we need no long-er as promoters of 
patriotic education your flag-s in our schools, and I 
sug-g-est that you use your §500.00 annual appropria- 
tion for a scientific course and mastery of history, 
the fundamental law of which, according- to the 
g-reat and wise Cicero, is "That it should neither 



250 REMINISCENCES. 

dare to say anything" that is false, or fear to say 
anything" that is true," and now, I waft you a sweet, 
loving- g-oodbye, trusting- that no one can say of you, 
"Ephraimess is joined to her idols, let her alone." 
"Ne sutor ultra crepidam." And, "whoever bloweth 
not his or her own horn, the same shall not be 
blown at all." ''Words fitly spoken are like apples 
of g-old in pictures of silver." Nuft" Ced. 

R. M. Howard. 



Had I Aladdin's lamp of old, by which I could 
chang-e immaterial thing's into g-old, I would buy 
Andersonville Cemetery as it now stands; not to dis- 
turb the rest of the dead there sleeping- or to mar or 
deface the beauty of it's mag-nificent monuments, but 
I would dedicate it as a perpetual Mecca that future 
g-enerations of the South mig'ht make annual pilg-rim- 
ag"es thereto and see the trilDute of sweet love erected 
there by the U. D. C. of Georg-ia to the memory of 
the g-rand martyr and immortal hero, Maj. Wirz, Vv^ho 
willing-ly g-ave his noble, unselfish life rather than 
say that Jefferson Davis, "the noblest Roman 
of them all," was responsible for the cruelties and 
barbarities said bj^ the North to have been used on 
the Federal prisoners, and fain would I have these 
Southern pilg-rims read from those towering- shafts 
of the merited fate of those ruthless invaders and 
murderous free-booters. 



REMINISCENCES. 251 

DoTHAN, Ala., Jan. 18, 1911. 

Mr. Robert Howard, 

Columbus, Ga. 

Dear Mr. Howard: 

Last nig-ht, I read your poem in the Enquirer to my 
father-in-law, Mr. A.J. Renfroe. We enjoyed every 
line of it. 

•Under separate cover, I send you a box of violets, 
gfrown in my own yard, and every one of them picked 
with a thoug-ht of you. 

No doubt, by this time you are wondering- who I 
am. Well, I will tell you. I am the little Yankee 
who married Wellborn J. Renfroe, of Columbus, Ga. 
We have been married five years the fourteenth day 
of February. 

Do you remember the day you met us on Broad 
Street and kissed my hand as a token of respect? 

I have never forgotten you, and admire your 
loyalty to the South. 

This little box of violets is a token of my appreci- 
ation for you. 

May your remaining- days be as happy as you 
wish. 

Your little "Yankee" friend, 

Helen (Trisler) Renfroe. 
211 W. Troy St., Dothan, Ala. 



252 reminiscences. 

Replies to Editor Hemphill. 

"Uncle Bob" Howard Turns His Guns on the 
Charleston News and Courier. 

Replies to Recently Published Editorial. 
Columbus Confederate Veteran Says He 
Says What He Pleases, Where He Pleases, 
Without Asking Permission of Editors in 
South Carolina or Elsewhere. 

Editor Eiiqinrer-Siin: I would sa}^ to the brigfht and 
brilliant editor of The Chnrledon News and Courier that 
I have never retired under fire, nor will I retire from 
fire on this occasion until I reply to his answer in 
my reply to Mrs. Myrtle McGowan, of Chicag-o, in 
her recent attack on the U. D. C. 

As longf as this heart of mine shall throb and this 
tong^ue of mine can speak, I will resent to the best 
of my ability an}^ attack made upon my people in 
this dear old land of Dixie, emanating- either from 
the loud braying- of long- eared asses or the .gentle 
whinnies of short-haired jennets. 

I do not exaggerate in the least when I say that I 
have been heartily commended in person by hundreds 
of men and women in this city and elsewhere on my 
recent reply to Mrs. McGowan, of Chicago, and why 
The Charlesto'i N'ews and Courier only should have un- 
favorably criticized me, is bej^ond my comprehension, 



REMINISCENCES. 253 

said criticism confined to two words only in my reply 
— "phan-tas-mas-ma-gfraph-i-cal, al-da-ba-ron-de-os- 
ta-fus-ti-ca-bil-i-ty . " 

"A little learning Is a dangerous thing, 
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring." 

And if the g-reat editor has not quaffed sufficiently 
of the limpid waters of this inspiring- spring- to 
learn the true English of the two words, I am not 
responsible for the fact that I am wiser than he. 
"Answ^er not a fool according- to his folly, lest thou 
be also like unto him." And again, "Answer a fool 
according- to his folly, lest he be wise in his own 
conceit." Take either horn of the dilemma and 
draw your own conclusions. 

"Our fight is with the Georgia Colonel." says 
Editor Hemphill, and why should he fig-ht me for 
publishing truths of history which are incontroverti- 
ble? Can it be that this g-reat editor would have 
Lethe's dark waters bury in oblivion the glorious 
and heroic past of the South, and licking- the foul 
hand that smites us, that thrift may follow fawning, 
say to the North: "You were rig-ht, we were wrong-, 
please forgive V" God forbid. 

I can never forgive this editor for mentioning- my 
name in connection with W. J. Bryan, for whom 
"Militant Democracy" three times stultified itself by 
accepting- him as a true exponent of Jeffersonian De- 
mocracy, and equally galling would it be to me were 
I in the Georgia Leg-islature. If I owed the devil a 



254 REMINISCENCES. 

complete MUNDANE NONENTITY, and he would 
not accept the present State Leg-islature in full pay- 
ment, I would claim exemption from further payment 
by pleading- leg-al tender. I am not a candidate for 
office, Mr. Editor, and would not accept one were it 
tendered on a platter set with diamonds. The only 
office I ever held was Fourth Corporal in Company 
G. (Governor's Guards, Columbia, S. C), Second 
South Carolina Reg-iment, in Virg-inia in 1861, before 
the first hostile g-un was tired. 

"But who is Colonel Robert M. Howard anyhow, 
to be parading himself thus before the electorate?" 
I am just one of that g-rand army of private Con- 
federate soldiers, who, for four years foug^ht the 
world and followed our flag- from Manassas to Ap- 
pomattox, and Greensboro, in defense of constitu- 
tional liberty and the right of self-government and I 
do not have to get an "Ipse dixit" from newspaper 
editors (some of whom actually know less than I 
have forgotten long ag-o) as to what, when and where 
to say anything- I please in vindication of the South 
in perpetuating and transmitting to this and to 
future generations the facts and justice of as 
rig-hteous a cause as any for which Freedom ever 
unsheathed her sword; and least of all should I ask 
a permit from the brilliant editor (of g-rand historic 
old Charleston, where "The Lost Cause," more than 
48 years ag-o, forced the United States to lower her 
colors to General Beauregard) who for aught I know 



REMINISCENCES. 255 

to the contrary believes the sun, moon and stars 
receive their brilliancj^ from the g-littering- g-ems as 
they drop and fly from the diamond point of the 
gfolden pen gfuided by the nimble hand of Charles- 
ton's truly g-reat editor. 

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; 
Full many a flower is born to blash unseen, 
And waste Its sweetness on the desert air." 

And now to Editor Hemphill I bow respectful, 
"Au Re voir." An- old man? Yes, I have nearly 
reached the eightieth milepost on life's journey in 
this vale of tears, and as I daily approach the final 
g-oal, I have an abiding- faith that when summoned 
from hence to give an account of my .Kiewardship in 
this life, "The sig-hs and tears I've wept o'er here 
may turn to smiles in Heaven." 

And for Dixie, dear old Dixie, God knows I yet 
would lay me down and die. 

R. M. Howard. 



There is in the colored cemetery in Columbus, Ga., 
a pure white marble monument with the following- 
inscription: "Erected by the City of Columbus, to 
mark the last resting place of Brag-g- Smith, who 
died September 30, 1903, at the age of 32 in the 
heroic, but fruitless effort to rescue the City 
Engineer from a caving- excavation on Eleventh 
Street," "Greater love hath no man than this, 



REMINISCENCES. 



that a man lay down his life for his friends." Truly 
was Bragrg: Smith a g-lorious hero. Can anj^ other 
City in the Government show a monument erected 
to the memor5^ of a negro? 



Had Bishop Galloway lived a few months lon^fer 
he would have seen his wish attained, and after the 
lapse of nearly half a century, the statue of the most 
heroic, knig-htliest, kindest, g^entlest of g-entlemen, 
the world's g^reatest soldier, standing- by that of 
Washing-ton in the Hall of Fame. And he would 
have heard Tlie Record Herald, a Northern paper, 
commending- Virg-inians for choosing- Washing-ton 
and Lee to represent their State, and saying- "two 
nobler men could not be jointly honored." And he 
would have heard the New York Eveiung San, 
saying-. "His statue may well stand in the Capitol 
of the Nation as he may ultimately take rank as our 
g-reatest g-eneral." It is true, as has been said, 
"The absence of Lee's statue from this hall could 
take nothing- from his fame, but without Lee, this 
American Hall of Fame would be very like the 
Poet's Corner in Westminster without Shakespeare, 
or Les Invalides without Napoleon." Certainly in 
this presence we shall all ag-ree, that the Hall of 
Fame can never claim 

"A nobler than he, 
Nor nobler man have less of blame, 
Nor blameless man have purer name, 
Nor purer name have grander fame, 
Nor fame— another Jjee. " 



REMINISCENCES. 2W 

This g-alaxy of heroes mig-ht well be named "the 
Southern Cross," tlie most conspicuous constel- 
lation of the Confederac3s and the vicarious sacrifice 
of the South. 

But around these brilliant leaders there were a 
myriad burning- hearts that loved their country none 
the less, who foug^ht as bravely, died as gloriously, 
and come back to-day to stand with the rest as each 
heart calls for its hero grand,— the men of the ranks 
whom "'no man can number," whose names are 
lost like the petals that fall from the wreath your 
fing"ers twine above the tomb where the mighty are 
fallen asleep. When the flowers of chivalry are 
shattered and fall as thick as the leaves of Valomb- 
rosa who can remember them all but God, who 
thoug-h He is Love, yet of Himself hath said, 
"Jehovah is a man of war." He remembers them 
all— your hero and mine. Ah, those dear lips that 
sang so oft the praises of the South, that loved her 
loyal sons with a love passing- that of woman, 
smiled upon her daughters as the fairest the sun 
shone on, and thought it a worthy thing in death to 
reiterate the conviction that continued from manhood 
to old age, that the South was rigfht in her con- 
tentions and in all her struggles gloriously brave. 
They come back — they come back to-day! And mine 
own arms feel that it were not far to lift Time's veil 
from the dear, devoted dead, and brushing back the 
flowers the years have let so g-ently fall, kiss once 

18 



258 REMINISCENCES. 

more the cold cheek, the silvered hair, the noble 
brow of my Confederate soldier. 

The common soldier of the Confederacy is not 
ashamed of his record; every one of whom believed 
in his cause and himself so thoroug-hly that he 
thoug-ht he was equal to about five Union men, and 
history says he proved his faith by his works. 

At Manassas six thousand men of the army of 
the Shenandoah, with 16 g"uns, and less than two 
thousand of that of the Potomac with 6 g"uns, 
successfully resisted for full five hours 35,000 United 
States troops, with a powerful artillery and a 
superior force of regfular cavalry. And the end of 
the conflict was so g^eneral a rout that, as the 
scattered and terror-stricken troops fled toward 
Washingfton, Jeb Stuart divided his g-ay cavaliers of 
Virg-inia aristocracy into squads of ten, with the 
order to "attack any force you find," and this was 
literally carried out ag^ain and ag^ain, as a little 
squad of ten would cry to 80 or 100 fully armed men, 
"Throw down your arms!" And the panic-stricken 
soldiers obeyed. A Southern soldier heard General 
Sherman say soon after the war: "It took us four 
years with all our enormous superiority in resources, 
to overcome the stubborn resistance of those men." 
But as a matter of fact in counting- the odds the 
Union soldier has never had his deserts; for back 
of the Confederate soldiery was a line of mothers 
and wives and sisters and sweethearts, who were 



REMINISCENCES. 259 

the inspiration of every man at the front. The 
Federals had to overcome the man behind the g"un, 
and the woman behind the man. The men at Ap- 
pomattox surrendered; the women never did. 

This earth has had great women now and then; 
history will tell of a Deborah, a Joan of Arc, an 
Elizabeth here and a Victoria there, a Susannah 
Wesley, a Florence Nig-hting-ale, a Maud Balling-ton 
Booth, a Clara Barton — you can count them on your 
fing-ers. But was there ever a time when the world 
saw so beautiful a sig-ht? — every woman a heroine! — 
as the Southern women "during" the war," and, you 
know, it isn't necessary to particularize about the 
"Civil War," or the "War between the States," this 
country has never seen, but one g^enuine war. 

And in that fearful strug-g-le, womanhood was im- 
mortalized by Southern womanhood. Their deeds 
of mercy, their sublime sacrifice and uncomplaining- 
patience, their faith and fervor and fortitude will 
never be adequately recorded till the ang-els report. 
That history has never been written because those 
women were unconscious of any g-reatness in what 
they did — and however much a woman may adorn 
her person, she has never been wont to paint her 
deeds; and the men, alas! there was not a man left 
at home to see and write it down. Every man who 
could weild a pen had exchang-ed it for a sword, and 
was at the front. 



260 REMINISCENCES. 

Away back in the "60's" a young- g-irl of great 
heart bids her brothers g^o fig^ht for the land of their 
love. "Who is to tend the farm and care for the 
widowed motlier and the sister four 3'^ears young^er?" 
"I" she said. Tliey went; they wore the g^ray. Do- 
ing- a liero's work with her hands, an ang-ePs work 
with her heart, toiling; and suffering- throug-li four 
long- years, she laid streng-fh, health and happiness 
on the altar of her country. 

At leng-th one da5^ the silver cc^rd was broken, and 
the tired soul was laid to rest. But listen! Her 
dying- instructions, literally carried out, were that 
there should be no mourning- colors there; as far as 
possible all to be in gfray; her casket was g-ra5^ she 
was buried in the dress her own hands luid made of 
Confederate g-ray; her pallbearers were dressed in 
g-ray; sons of Southern soldiers placed her g-entl}^ on 
the bosom of the kind old earth, and it seemed to me 
that day it too was dressed in g-ray. -I am not draw- 
ing- the lines too strong" when I say that cause was 
their idol, and they loved it as a woman loves her 
God. They never regfarded it as a "lost cause," 
they never surrendered; and every woman of the 
South is flying- her colors to-day. 

To-day the soldiers have marched once more to the 
tune of Dixie in the balmy Southern air; comrades 
have g-rasped once more the comrade's hand; all day 
the past has been striking; hands with tlie present. 
"All this for love of a cause that is lost, of a flag- 



REMINISCENCES. 261 

that is but a memory, of a nation whose only terri- 
tory is but a name." But methinks in gflory to-day 
•the ang-els who hear us call it LOST do wisely 
smile. It is not lost! It can never be lost so long- 
as men preach patriotism, love, valour, and worship 
heroes. 

"Long, long centuries 
At;one one walked tbe earth, His mv 
A seeming failure, 
Dying, He gave the world a gift. 
That will outlast eternities:" 



home-coming 
Of the Soldiers Back Yonder in the Sixties. 

From the Nkw York- Tim,s. 

At a dinner party uptown the other nig-ht several 
former Union soldiers and an ex-Confederate sat 
down. The latter had ridden with J. E. B. Stuart. 
He is now riding- about for a northern concern. The 
talk turned on the home-coming- of the military 
heroes, and the Southern man said: 

"I was asked the other day in Pittsburg, as we 
watched the welcome of the people to the Tenth 
Pennsylvania back from the Philippines, what sort 
of reception we Johnny Rebs g-ot when we went home 
after the Civil War. Whipped soldiers are not often 
required to march in bodies when they g-o home. 
The Confederates did not, as a whole. They did 
not in any way so far as I ever heard. They went 



262 REMINISCENCES. 

back in twos or threes, but oftener one at a time. 
You will know some day tbat the Civil War was 
unlike any other war of history. When the Con- 
federates realized thej' were whipped they were 
heart-broken. I am not making- an^^ argument for 
the cause. But you must consider the temperament 
of a Southern man to understand what defeat meant 
to him. 

'"You people of the North would have been recov- 
ered if the North had been whipped. You would 
have been at Richmond, if we had succeeded, with 
your Yankee inventions and schemes. You would 
have g'ot the contract for the Confederate States 
public works. You would have had the contracts 
for building our navy, for making our guns. You 
would have built our railroads. You would have 
revived your industries from our coffers. You would 
have become partners in our commerce. All this 
would have been characteristic of you. 

"With the Southern man it was different. He was 
whipped but he was sullen. He moped and would 
not play. You people had the advantage in the 
play, of course, but j'^ou might have given the sulker 
a show for his white alley if he had shown a dis- 
position to let you inside his yard. But he barred 
the gate and scowled at you through a knothole. 
And this strain clung to him for years, and he awoke 
one morning to lind some of you folks in his field 
and on his plantation working his soil while he was 



REMINISCENCES. 268 

starvingf. Then he quit looking- back and went to 
work. And now when you have a trade with a 
Southern man you do not take advantagfe of him as 
you did. 

"But just after the surrender he was in no mood 
to be received. The town from which he had en- 
listed was in no condition to turn out in welcome 
and hurrah, even if a reg-iment had returned or any 
body of men. Gentlemen, believe me, there was not 
a healthy hurrah in the whole South after Lee's sur- 
render. It was nothing- to brag" about for some time 
before that. Some of us saw the handwriting- six 
months before the meeting- of Grant and Lee at 
Appomattox. 

"Your soldiers returned home in companies, bat- 
talions and reg-iments. They were received bj^ the 
populace as we are now receiving- our returning- 
soldiers from the Philippines and as we recently re- 
ceived them from Cuba. But the Confederate 
soldier sneaked back, not because he was ashamed 
of what he had done, for to this day we are mig-hty 
sensitive on that point, but because he had been 
whipped. It takes a brave man to acknowledg-e a 
licking- such as you g-ave us. We acknowledg-ed it 
all rig-ht to you and at home, but we did not want 
any hurrah made about it. Our people were in no 
mood to ring- the bells or fire the g-uns when we went 
home. A man g-oing- into his old home in the nig-ht, 
climbing- the back fence and g-oing- throug-h the g-ar- 



264 REMINISCENCES. 

den, making' peace with the do^, knoclving- at the 
kitchen door, is not an inspiring- spectacle. That is 
the way most of us went back. 

"Verj'- often there were no bells to the church 
steeples, for our people had to melt them for ammu- 
nition. We were mighty short toward the last. 
There were few house guns during the war. 

"Occasionally a Confederate returned to find his 
town so battered that he did not know it. He met 
strange faces in the streets. Familiar landmarks 
had disappeared. Sometimes he found the founda- 
tion of his old home and it was overgrown with 
grass. Wliole towns disappeared and the communi- 
ties moved in some sections of the South during the 
war. 

"I know many ex- Confederates to-day who were 
never mustered out. They bunched us and told us 
to go and we scattered in every direction. I know 
a man in my state who is holding a Federal office 
who never surrendered and who was never dis- 
charg-ed from the Confederate service. No war ever 
had as manj^^ strang-e situations, as many curious 
results as that war." 



CHAPTER XVIII 



Memorial Oration April, 26th, 1911, by Mr. 
W. C. Pease. 

JUDGE S. P. GILBERT, in a very happy and 
^ pleasing- manner, presented Mr. William C. 
Pease, Memorial Day orator, to tlie audience at the 
Spring-er Opera House Wednesday afternoon, and 
Mr. Pease spoke as follows: 

The inexorable recorder of the passing- years 
stands before the great shield of time and with his 
ponderous hammer of brass strikes the funeral dirg-e 
of each departed day. Since last we assembled in 
memorial service, 364 days have thus been consigned 
to that past whicli remains to us only as precious 
memories of days in wliich the chalice of life, filled 
to overflowing with the very 303'' of living-, has been 
pressed to our thirst}'^ lips, or, as they pass we can 
hear the clanking- of broken fetters which have held 
us in spiritual, social or political bondag-e, and as 
the hateful sound grows fainter and fainter with 
each departing day, we '"lift our eyes to the hills 
from whence cometh our strength" and looking, be- 
hold the exquisite dawn of a new day which brings 
to us a deeper and truer meaning- of the life which 
God has given us. 



266 REMINISCENCES. 

And now assembled, as our custom is once each 
year, to p3.y tribute to the memory of our Confed- 
erate dead, this same g-uardian of the shield of time 
stands with uplifted arm ready to strike the death 
knell of another day, as he has ever stood and ever 
will stand until ''the ang'el standing" upon the sea 
and upon the earth shall lift up his hand to Heaven, 
and swear by Him that liveth forever and ever, who 
created Heaven and the things that therein are, and 
the earth, and the things that therein are, and the 
sea, and the things which are there, that there shall 
be no more time" — and we, g-athered in the length- 
ening- shadows of this departing- day with bated 
breath and listening ears can hear the tramp, tramp 
of the departing hosts as they move onward from 
time into eternity. 

Standing in the sun-lit dawn of the twentieth cen- 
tury listening- to the reverberations of the past fifty 
years, as they roll backward into the abyss of time, 
we hear the roll of drums, the blare of trumpets, the 
shriek of steeds, the rattle of musketry, the thunder 
of cannon and the crash of contending hosts, all 
coming- to us as echoes of a fratricidal war — the 
bloodiest in the annals of history — as reminders of 
the most gallant strugrgrle for liberty of which the 
world has any record. 

It is not my purpose to-day to wring- your hearts 
with a tale of the horrors of that terrific strug-gle, 
nor to stir up your souls to a state of rebellion 



REMINISCENCES. 267 

ag"ainst the tixed order of thing's by telling- you a 
story of tyranny and injustice. Neither shall I try 
to establish the rig^hteousness of the cause of the 
Confederacy, nor shall I eulog-ize the Confederate 
soldier, for history and the many gfifted speakers 
who have gone before me have done all these thing's. 
And we Southern people are to-day in the eyes of 
the civilized world, the bravest, most loyal, most 
liberty loving- people upon the face of the earth. No 
country, North, South, East or West, can show 
grander specimens of Christian manhood than our 
immortal Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, 
the coming- in touch with whose greatness made 
others great. 

Veterans, you, and your comrades who have gone 
before you in answer to the last bugle call, acted 
your part in that awful struggle "not like dumb, 
driven cattle, but like heroes in the strife" and shall 
we as a people be satisfied to memorialize your gal- 
lantry by a white shaft, which lifting its head 
heavenward, bears the legend, "To the Confederate 
dead," or by some service like this in which the 
speaker tries to tell you of your braver)^ on the field 
of battle while you could tell him of privations, of 
daring deeds and lofty courage of which he has never 
dreamed. No! Ten thousand times, no! Your im- 
mortal memorial is written in the history of this 
nation by none other hand than that of God. For 
centuries while he was opening up the great eastern 



268 REMINISCENCES. 

hemisphere to the onward march of civilization, 
God's hand seemed to han^j- like a dark curtain 
between the two hemispheres, until in the fulness of 
time Columbus lured on bj^ the charm of the impos- 
sible manned his caravels and ventured forth. 

See yonder Pinta passing- throug-h the "Pillars of 
Hercules" as 

"Westward the course of empire takes its way: 
The first for four acts already past, 
The fifth shall close the drama with the day; 
Time's noblest offspring is the last." 

It is true of nations as of men, "There's a Divinity 
that shapes our ends, roug-h hew them as we will." 
God lifted his shadowing hand and revealed to this 
adventurous mariner the magnilicent empire of the 
West, which was destined by its Creator to become 
the mistress of the world both on land and sea. In 
this new empire, the North and the East by 
reason of peculiar conditions became the great com- 
mercial center, while the South, the fairest most 
beautiful land that ever came forth from God's 
creative power, was a veritable "Garden of Eden," 
carpeted with her gorgeous flora, and the very 
atmosphere filled with the song- of her beautiful 
birds; her granite hills bursting with coal and 
minerals more valuable than the wealth of the 
Indies, and her soil productive of every good thing 
for the sustenance of man and beast. The people 
holding- this fair heritage were and are, the 



REMINISCENCES. 269 

proudest, bravest, bluest blooded aristocrats the sun 
ever shone upon; jealous of tlieir rigfhts and quick to 
resent any trespass upon their possessions. Sud- 
denly these easy g"oing-, liberty loving- people were 
awakened from their dreaming" under the sunny, 
southern skies by the Emancipation Proclamation, 
followed quickly bj^ the cry to arms! and then fol- 
lowed four years of the bloodiest war the world has 
ever witnessed — years in which our beautiful South- 
land was crimsoned with tlie blood of her noble sons 
and watered with the tears of her queenly, heroic, 
suffering daughters, who, even while receiving- the 
news of a husband's death bade her boy, the joy of 
her heart, go to the front and take his father's place 
in resisting the invasion of the foe. 

The war ceased. It was fearful while it lasted, 
but it was the Lord's doing- and marvelous in our 
eyes. It is for us to saj' what the result shall be. 
"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to 
perform." That this magnificent land of America 
migrht become the wonderful "land of the free and 
home of the brave," the greatest nation upon the 
earth, it was necessary that every part antagonistic, 
or at variance should be welded into one grand and 
beautiful whole, even though the fusion require the 
intense heat of an awful war, a tragedy of the 
nations. 

To-day as w^e stand upon the threshold of a new 
and g-lorious era, and look back upon the cruel war 



270 REMINISCENCES. 

of lifty years ag-o, we see the South, the North, the 
East and the West all working- tog^ether for the 
building of a nation, which is at once the wonder 
and glory of the world, while all eyes are centered 
upon our beautiful Southland, a veritable gem g^low- 
ing- under the light of an all wise Creator, the most 
beautiful and most to be desired of lands. 

Veterans, come with me to-day and ascending- the 
Nebo of this g-lorious twentieth century, let us by 
God's help view the land which He has g-iven us for 
an inheritance. Look! and from Maine to Cali- 
fornia, from Canada to the Gulf, we can see smoke 
rising- from thousands of cities and thank God that 
it is not the smoke of battle, but the evidence of 
commercial and industrial activities. Away down 
yonder in the valleys, and even climbing- up the 
mountain sides, we see thing-s in motion, and ag-ain 
we thank God that it is the onward rush of trains 
bearing the commerce of the world and of our own 
land to every part of this great continent, and not 
the movement of contending hosts rushing on to 
war; listen to the echoes reverberating^ throug-h the 
land, and realize that they are not the sounds of 
bloody battles, but the stirring of a giant among the 
nations awakening- to the day of g-lorious possibili- 
ties and achievements. Men, see these thing's as 
they are to-day, and then with prophetic vision see 
the wonders which God hath planned, and which it 
hath not entered into the mind of man to conceive 



REMINISCENCES. 271 

of. Men of the Confederacy, we are here to-day not 
simply to memorialize you and your companions who 
have g-one on before you, because of the g-allant 
deeds which you performed in that bloody war, but 
to pay tribute to you as men chosen by God to help 
in laying^ the foundations of this wonderful land as 
it is to-day. 

We hear some one say every little while with 
great boasting", "I am an unreconstructed Rebel." 
Listen! "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
thereof; the world and they that dwell therein. For 
he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it 
upon the floods." Washingfton was rig-ht when he 
declared "a man must be worse than an infidel who 
does not see the divine g"oodness in our national 
affairs, or has not the g-ratitude to acknowledg-e it. 
No people can be more bound than we to acknowl- 
edg-e and adore the invisible hand which conducts 
the affairs of men." If this is true, then Unrecon- 
structed Rebels, you are in rebellion ag^ainst God. 
Banish from your hearts every feeling- of bitterness 
and fall into line with a reconstructed nation march- 
ing- onward to the fulfillment of its mag-nificent 
destiny. 

Confederate veterans, the cause you loved so well 
is resting- quietly in the mausoleum of the past; the 
flag- you hailed with shouts of devotion and which 
was never lowered in dishonor shall never more be 
lifted among: the flag-s of the nations, but we love it 



272 REMINISCENCES. 

still, and when at your reunions it lifts its battle 
scarred face, we bow our heads in silent veneration 
as the symbol of liberty passes by. Silently, 
solemnly and with dimming- eyes let us lay to rest 
in the deep recesses of our hearts, this cause so dear 
to us all, and then, lifting- our eyes to behold the 
g-lory of a new born nation, in which there is no 
North, no South, but one America; let us stretch 
forth our hands in fraternal g-reetiug- to those who 
come to us from over the Mason and Dixon lijie, and 
thus united we shall work tog^ether not for temporal 
sufjremacy, but to make these United States a union 
indeed in which there shall be so much streng-fh that 
none shall dare to molest us, and we shall be at 
peace with tlie whole world. 

But what constitutes iin enduring' empire? Cer- 
tainly not riches, nor war-like equipment; not 
intellectual supremacy, not art nor scientific attain- 
ment; for the great empires of the East possessed 
all these elements of g-reatness and yet they have 
all passed away. See how, with majestic steps, the 
gfreat God of all the eitrth has swept tiiroug-h all the 
ag-es, irresistible in His power, and accomplishing' 
His purposes despite tlie pig-m}' efforts of man to 
stay him. 

Read the simple story of the Tower of Babel, and 
and you will be forced to recog^nize the presence of a 
power which alone controls. In Abyssinia-Ethiopia 
long' before the time of Solomon there were mag"niii- 



REMINISCENCES. 273 

cent piles of masonry, the splendors of which have 
never been surpassed, and forming- great centers of 
population to which flocked men and women from 
every quarter of the then known world — 

Kings of a hundred Dreadnaughts, ruling the seven seas- 
Parked aitlllery, powder and steel— shall ye endure by 

these 
Keeping an armed lordship of earth whereso your sentries 

stand? 
What are Akkad and Assur now? Shards In the drifting 

sand. 

Kings of a thousand forges, kings often thousand men, 
Liner and limited, shuttlewlse thrown, from port unto 

seaport again, 
Weaving a web of lufinlte threads, giants of hand and of 

brain- 
Where are the galleys Phoenicia sailed? Ooze, In a deso- 
late main. 

Kings of the souPs out-searching, kings of the far Ideal- 
Poets, philosophers, prophets— the Chrlst-llfllng men 

nearer the Real— 
Not unto dust as the war lords go, not as the lords of greed. 
But rising forever from life to life— kings and Messiahs 

Indeed! 

Veterans of the Confederacy, we memorialize your 
suffering's and sacrifices because God was using- you 
to establish this enduring- king-dom of America; fair 
women of the South, we reverence 3'^ou as minister- 
ing- ang-els, and as vestals chosen by God to keep 
the altar fires burning-. But men, your sacrifices 
are wasted; women your ministrations are all for 
naught, if you keep not before the rising: gfenerations 
the great truth that God, He is the Lord and His 
commands must be obeyed. Let us as a Christian 
nation show our gratitude by devotion to our 



274 REMINISCENCES. 

father's God; for surely He has dealt with us as 
with no other nation, and g-iven us a large and 
wealthy place among- the nations of the earth. 

The messag-e of the Angfels was "Peace on earth," 
therefore on such an occasion as this let us not dwell 
upon those thing-s which can only serve to keep us 
in the g"all of bitterness and rebellion, but rather let 
us lift our souls to God in thanksg^iving- for His 
wonderful gfoodness to us. Let us take from the 
colossal Statue of Liberty the torch which she is 
holding aloft and in its stead place the uplifted 
■cross; then shall we behold the mission of America 
to the world. As Southerners who have passed 
throug-h the bitterness of defeat, and who can now 
see the dawn of that g-lorious day when we shall 
take our place in the councils of the nation, and all 
bitterness and prejudice shall be so far removed 
that one of our own shall become our chief ex- 
-ecutive, let us as a Christian people meet our 
responsibilities and then shall the great God lead 
us into high and ever higher realms of peace and 
usefulness, and the whole of America shall unite in 
the grand old National song": 

"Our father's God! to Thee 
Author of liberty, 

To Thee we sing; 
Long may our land be bright 
With freedom's holy light; 
Protect us by Thy might, 

Great God, our King." 



CHAPTER XIX 



"Uncle Bob" Has A Great Time. 

'X'HE indications are that Col. R. M. Howard, of 
* this city, who went to Dawson yesterday to 
deliver the Memorial Address, had a great time if 
the following" dispatch may be taken as such: 

Dawson, Ga., April 26th. 
Editor Enqairer-Sun, 

Columbus, Ga. 

The only gun fired at me to-day was a broadside 
of sweet love from brave men and beautiful women 
and children of this City of Dawson. I covered the 
g-round with truth and reached the wire O.K., feel- 
ing- like a thoroug-hbred two-year-old, champing- the 
bit, ready for the word "'go." 

Wedding's, likes measles, are contag-ious, and I 
am liable to leave here for New York with my 
eighteen year old bride on my honeymoon. 

Uncle Bob. 



"One day the wasted body of a man, whose bril- 
liant mind had been a wreck for many years, was 
carried out fro in his asylum for burial. It had been 
hard for him to bear, and for his friends to see such 



276 REMINISCENCES. 

a brilliant career as his end in years of mental 
chaos, but it looked as if in these last days God 
had made a rift in his darkened mind and throug-h it 
suffused upon his weary soul some of Heaven's own 
radiance; for after they had borne his body away, 
and went back to his room to take his little effects 
home, they found penciled on the wall these remark- 
able words: 

"Could man with Jnk the ocean flU 
And were the skies of parchment made, 
To write the love of God above, 
Would drain the ocean dry; 
Nor could the earth contain the whole, 
Though stretched from sky to sky. 
I have loved Thee with an everlasting love." 

Has the consciousness of that ever thrilled you? 

The love of God is an everlasting" love. 

It is the most everlasting- thing- in all God's 
universe. We sometimes speak of "the eternal 
hills;" they do look everlasting- in their ag-e-long- 
shapes and g-ranite hearts. But we know they are 
not everlasting-. Frost and rain are furrowing- their 
faces and seaming- their sides, and now and then 
g-reat internal convulsions cleave them from crest to 
base and leave them scattered about, the ruins of 
their former majesty. 

We walk out under the starry skies at nig-ht, and 
as their g-olden radiance shimmers down upon us we 
feel knit to g-enerations far ag-one on whom their 



REMINISCENCES. 277 

nig-lit fell as it now falls on us. The ancient Chal- 
dean astronomers and hoary Eg-yptians, long before 
Abraham's day, measured their flights and watched 
for their coming. They look everlasting, but they 
are not. The words of the Psalmist are true, "Of 
old hast Thou laid the foundations of the earth, and 
the heavens are the work of Thy hands." But they 
are not eternal. What he adds is also true — "They 
shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them 
shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou 
change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou 
art the same, and Thy years shall have no end." 

"Change and decay in all around I see," but the 
love of God, like His mercy, which is born of His 
love, is "from everlasting to everlasting." 



THE SOUTHERN SOLDIERS' GRAVES. 

"PuZreris tria maniplia ad manes spargere." 

'Beautlftil feet! with maidenly tread, 
Offerings bring to the gallant dead. 
Footsteps light press the sacred sod 
Of souls untimely ascended to God. 
Bring Spring flowers In fragrant perfume, 
And offer sweet prayers for a merclftil doom. 

'Beautiful hands! ye deck the graves 
Above the dust of the Southern braves; 
Here was extinguished their manly Are, 
Rather than flinch from the Northman's Ire. 
Bring Spring flowers! the laurel and rose, 
And deck your defenders' place of repose. 



278 REMINISCENCES. 

"Beautiful eyes! the tears ye shed 
Are brighter than diamonds to those who bled. 
Spurned Is the cause they fell to save, 
But 'little they'll reck' If ye love their grave. 
Bring Spring flowers! with tears and praise, 
And chant o'er their tombs your grateful lays. 

"Beautiful lips! j'e tremble now, 
Memory wakens the sleeping ones vow; 
Mute are the lips and faded the forms 
That never knelt down, save to God and your 

charms. 
Bring Spring flowers, all dewy with morn, 
And think how they loved ye, whose graves ye 

adorn. 

"Beautiful hearts! of matron and maid, 
Faithful were ye when apostles betrayed! 
Here are your loved and cherished ones laid; 
Peace to their ashes; the flowers ye strew 
Are monuments worthy the faithful and true. 
Bring Spring flowers, perfume their sod. 
With anmtnl Inceuse to glory and God. 

"Beautiful tribute at Valor's shrine! 
The wreaths that fond ones lovingly twine. 
Let the whole world their ashes despise. 
Those whom they cherished with heart, bands 

and eyes. 
Will bring Spring flowers and bow the head, 
And pray for the noble Confederate Dead!" 



REMINISCENCES. 279 

Columbus, Ga., January 11th, 1911. 
Editor Ledger: 

Flowers from the Garden of My Heart. 
Three score, ten and seven years of time crown me to-day, 

R. M. Howard. 

The fountain In the desert of life springs from Hope. 
Heaven Is the bright goal, In the blissful Beyond we seek. 
Rather one rose to-day, than many on the bier In death. 
Every day Is a fresh beginning. 
Each morn brings Its cross. Its crown. 

Sincerity should prompt our every deed done. 

Contentment with life Is a jewel above price. 

Over every dark cloud there Is a sliver shade painted by Hope. 

Restrain the tongue that It speak no wrong. 

Experience wounded, teaches man wisdom. 

Truth like Heaven's sun reveals and scourges or crowns what dark- 
ness conceals. 
"Error wounded writhes In pain and dies with its worshippers." 
"Nothing extenuate or set down aught In malice," lest truth lose 
her sway. 

As man loves himself, so should he love his neighbor. 

Never sacrifice principle on the altar of policy. 

Duty, next to God, is the grandest word known to man. 

Silence Is the temple of our purest thoughts. 

Eden was a wild, and Adam sighed till Eve— his best rib— smiled. 

Verily is the sacred dust of our Confederate dead the sweet ashes of 

our glory. 
Ever will live "the story of the glory of the men who wore the 

gray." 
Nothing need cover their high fame but Heaven, no pyramid mark 

their memories. 

Years in their flight scatter both sunshine and storm. 
Examples hasten deeds to grood elTects. 
Appearances deceive, many are not what they seem. 
Reputation without blemish is a treasure without measure. 
Sorrow lives with those, whose pleasures add to their sins. 



380 REMINISCENCES. 

"Old friends, like old swords are trusted best." 
Friendship Is an abstract of love purged from all Its dross. 

Time Is fleeting, and ever sounding funeral marches to the grave. 
Improve each day, one lost Is lost for ever. 

Man's definition of beauty and excellence Is the woman he loves. 
Every heart has Its own secret of pleasure and pain. 

Oharity is fed by the love that gave it birth. 
Reminiscences recall both deep drawn sighs and loving smiles. 
Oft in the silent night, fond memory communes with the past. 
Wisdom and knowledge are beatitudes from God, which all should 

seek. 

No land ever gave birth to grander men or more peerless women 
than Dixie. 

Mercy and love are changeless attributes of God, 
Even though man will ever sin. 

The sighs and tears we weep o'er here may turn to smiles in Heaven. 
Over man's imperfections, let charity spread her broad and loving 

mantle. 
""Divinity alone shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may," 
And when Heaven's Archangel shall sound the end of time 
'Years of eternity for weal or woe will be the everlasting doom of 



Revenge, though sweet at first Is bitter in the end. 

Memory is the mirror with which we gaze upon the past. 

Here are my kindred, my friends, my home, sweet home; 
Of all my pleasures and treasures, the sweetest, best. 
Woman Is the priceless pearl of countless worth to erring man. 
"As a man thinketh, so is he;" 
Rise then and think with God. 
Duty Is nearly discharged, and with me life's journey soon will 




'I'ncle Boh" and his grand-nephew Robert lIo\\ard Gatcwood, 
clc\cn months old. 
(Born on "Incle Bob's" Seventy-seventh Birthiiay.) 



REMINISCENCES. 281 

SAM DAS' IS. 

Tribute by J. Tuotwood Moork. 

"Tell me his name and you are free," 
The General said, while from the tree 
The grim rope dangled threat'nlngly. 

The birds ceased singing— happy birds, 
That sang of home and mother words. 
The sunshine kissed his cheek— dear sun, 
It loves a life that's just begun. 
The very breezes held their breath 
To watch the light 'twlxt life and death, 
And O how calm and sweet and free 
Smiled back the hills of Tennessee! 
Smiled back the hills as if to say: 
•'O save your life for us to-day!" 

"Tell me his name and you are free," 
The General said, "and I shall see 
You safe within the Rebel line— 
I'd love to save such llle as thine." 

A tear gleamed down the ranks of blue 

(The bayonets were tipped with dew); 

Across the rugged cheek of war 

God's angels rolled a teary star. 

The boy looked up. and this they heard: 

"And would you have me break my word?" 

A tear stood in the General's eye: 
"My boy, I hate to see thee die; 
Give me the traitor's name and fly!" 

Young Davis smiled as calm and free 
As He who walked on Galilee: 
"Had I a thousand lives to live, 
Had I a thousand lives to give, 
I'd lose them— nay, I'd gladly die 
Before I'd live one life a He!" 
He turned for not a soldier stirred. 
"Your duty, men; I gave my word." 



REMINISCENCES. 

The hills sinlled back a farewell smile. 
The breeze sobbed o'er his bier awhile, 
The birds broke out In glad refrain, 
The sunbeams kissed his cheek again. 
Then gathering up their blazing bars, 
They shook his name among the stars 



O stars, that now his brothers are, 
O sun, his she in truth and light, 

Go tell the listening worlds afar 
Of him who died for truth and right. 

For martyr of all martyrs he 
Who died to save an enemy! 

My dear beloved soldier friends. 

We soon shall hear the last tattoo, 
Which time shall beat as it descends 

To hide us all from mortal view. 
But there's a laud I hope we'll see. 

Where there's no sorrow and no wars, 
Where there's an endless reveille 

Which angels sing beyond the stars. 

Good-by, beloved friends, good-by; 

Our lives are passing fast away, 
Like clouds that tleck the lilac sky 

Or moths that round the candle play. 
A few more years 'twill be at best 

When all of us who wore the gray 
Will have passed, let's hope, to rest. 

Awaiting that last Judgment day. 

Good-by once more, a last good-by; 

Together here no more we'll meet. 
Our friendship, though, shall never die; 

A soldier's love knows no deceit. 
There is a bond as strong as steel 

That binds us as the day to night— 
That is, that we shall always feel 

That what we did was for the right. 



reminiscences. 288 

Uncle Bob Howard Having Great Time 

With Pace Shaven and Locks Closely Cropped 
Friends Don't Know Him. 

Uncle Bob Howard has had more fun than any- 
body in Columbus during- the past week. Uncle 
Bob takes life easy anyway, and is always ready to 
enjoy a joke. Of course he enjoys one on his friends 
just a shade better than if it be on himself, but when 
his friends turn the table on him, he laugfhs with 
them, and all have a g"ood time. 

During- the past week, however. Uncle Bob has 
had it on his friends, and he has enjoyed it hug-ely. 
He had quite a serious attack of erysipelas about 
two weeks ag-o, and when his physician called to 
attend him, the first thing- he prescribed was the 
services of a barber. Now, Uncle Bob, who has 
enjoyed seventy-seven summers, and who has had 
the frosts of about the same number of winters 
thrust upon him, states that this is the first time he 
has been clean shaven since he beg-an to wear a 
beard. He says he has shaved parts of his face 
from time to time, but never before has he had all of 
his beard and whiskers taken off. 

When the order went forth that he must underg-o 
this tonsorial operation the old gentleman had 



284 REMINISCENCES. 

thougfhts of his owu, which he expressed quietly to 
himself, but having-, during- four years of war, 
learned to obey the orders of his superior oflBlcers, 
he submitted as cheerfully as he could, and off came 
the beard. 

A few afternoons ago he came out on the streets 
for the first time since his recovery from his illness. 
Without the beard and flowing- locks which so long 
adorned him, he presented an altogether different 
appearance. Even those who know him most in- 
timately did not recog-nize him, and he passed and 
repassed many of his lifelong friends without their 
recognizing him. Speaking of the matter, Uncle 
Bob says he is satisfied he met and talked with at 
least three hundred of his friends, relatives and 
acquaintances his first day out, and that only three 
of them recog-nized him without difficulty. 

One of the first men he met was Mr. Henry 
Hunter. "I have known Henry ever since he g-ot 
out of the cradle," said Uncle Bob. "I was in- 
troduced to him as Mr. Somebody — I don't recall 
the name — and stood and talked to him for five 
minutes, and finally told him, and he had doubts 
even then." 

One of the most amusing- experiences Uncle Bob 
had was with one of his former comrades in arms. 
He was walking- down Broad Street when Judg-e 
M. P. Hood recog-nized him, or rather asked him if 
he were not Bob Howard. Uncle Bob readily ad- 



REMINISCENCES. 285 

mitted that it was he. About that time Judge Hood 
saw Mr. Josiah Flournoy approaching- and told 
Uncle Bob to wait a minute and they would have 
some fun. As Mr. Flournoy passed without rec- 
ognizing- Uncle Bob, Judge Hood called to him: 

"Joe, come here a minute," 

Mr. Flournoy approached the two, and Judge 
Hood said: 

"I want to introduce you to Major Johnson, of 
Tennessee, who is here for a short visit en route to 
the reunion at Little Rock. He would like to meet 
up with some of the old boys and go along with 
them. Can j^ou tell him the name of one or more of 
them?" 

"Bob Howard," unhesitatingly replied Mr. Flour- 
noy. "He knows more about it than anyone else. If 
you don't happen to meet him, call on or telephone 
John Matthews at the court house and he can give 
you all the information you may desire." 

Mr. Flournoy and Uncle Bob talked for several 
minutes without the former having the slightest sus- 
picion as to the latter 's identity. 

"Now, there's a man I have been knowing all my 
life," said Uncle Bob, talking about the incident. 
We were in the same company in the war, and have 
been associated with each other all our lives. But 
he didn't know me. Finally I said: 

" 'Joe, do you know you are talking to Bob How- 
ard?'" 



286 REMINISCENCES. 

He gfot no further. Mr. Plournoy exploded. He 
g-rabbed Uncle Bob by the hand and began to shake 
him vig-orously, and the first intelligfible words he 
could utter, after recoveringf from his laug-hter, 
were: 

"You ougfht to be killed before nig-ht." 

These are but two of the many amusing- incidents 
of which Uncle Bob, clean shaven and with locks 
cropped close, has been the centre during the past 
week. 

He has been having the time of his life. 

The following recently appeared in the Enqairer- 
Sim: 

"Lost, strayed or stolen: One Uncle Bob How- 
ard. Return with positive proof of identification to 
his best girl for reward." 



That Detestable Eeson Book. 

(A Virginia Woinau in the Roanolie (Va.) Thues.) 

Mr. Thomas Cline, of Roanoke College, in a re- 
cent letter to the Culpeper Enterprise calls that 
paper to account for something it had said of the 
college, and ends thus: "Roanoke College has evi- 
denced the true, genuine patriotism that the South 
needs, and not the narrow spirit of sectionalism." 

It is amazing how all the defenders of said college 
harp upon the much-frayed string of "sectionalism." 



REMINISCENCES. 287 

In fact, they have worn it to a frazzle; while it is very 
clear that sectionalism has no part in the matter. 

To repudiate and protest ag-ainst falsehood and 
slander is a recog'nized rig^ht of individuals, com- 
munities and nations. Surely to be patriotic Amer- 
icans it is not essential to heap insult and injury 
upon our ancestors, immediate and remote, to 
discredit the living- and the dead. Yet this appears 
to be what Roanoke College and its defenders de- 
mand of us, the colleg'e itself setting- the example, 
and Elson's historj^ was dropped as a concession to 
public sentiment, and for no other reason. Presi- 
dent Morehead affirms his symathy with the tradi- 
tions and ideals of the South, deplores the section- 
alism shown by the protestants against false 
statements, and speaks of the "wider patriotism" 
they would have shown by remaining silent. I 
utterly fail to see the connection. In nowise can I 
understand how national loyalty is to be promoted 
by vilifying any section of our common country or 
by any section's accepting as final an unjust and 
outrag-eous verdict. 

Statements reg-arding occurrences must either be 
true or untrue. "Academic freedom" does not 
always discover the truth. One student of the col- 
leg-e boldly declares that, "while it is toug-h on the 
South, he believes all that Elson says on the 
subject." Another, in a newspaper article, claims 
to voice the student body and proceeds to deride 



288 REMINISCENCES. 

and sneer at our Virg-inia ancestry. The history of 
the State from its inception at Jamestown is a 
standing: refutation of his sneers. No one but a fool 
tries to live upon his ancestry, and no one but an 
ingrate fails to acknowledg"e his oblig"ations to those 
who have g^one before, 

I fear that this sapient youth will not'measure up 
even to the scant virtues of the "idle pleasure seek- 
ers" who did nothing- for the advancement of their 
State and "lived upon their ancestry." 

If the above incidents indicate "the true, g-enuine 
patriotism which the colleg-e has and the South 
needs," may the g^ood Lord deliver us! 

INDORSING THE VIRGINIA WOMAN'S VIEV^S. 

The Roanoke Ttmes states editorially on this 
subject: 

"Very cordially and heartily we indorse and ap- 
prove the sentiments expressed by 'A Virg-inia 
Woman' writings from Culpeper reg-arding" the po- 
sition of the Roanoke Colleg-e authorities in connec- 
tion with the Elson history. We confess that that 
position is mysterious to us and is past understand- 
ing- by any code of ethics with which we are 
familiar. The deepest damnation of all is the 
evident effort of the authorities of Roanoke Colleg-e 
to make this question appear sectional and narrow. 

"Mr. Elson himself has confessed that in these 
statements he was wrong-, and he has promised to 



REMINISCENCES. 289 

correct them in his next edition. Yet Roanoke Col- 
leg-e with this confessed falsehood in its accepted 
books sets itself up as standing- for truth (?) and 
'broad thougfht.' 

"With all the power we have we resent the course 
of the authorities of this college in first teaching: 
false and slanderous assertions, confessed by the 
author of them to be false, and then presentingf 
themselves as teachers of 'broad thought,' denounc- 
ingf those who oppose falsehood as narrow and 
sectional and claiming- for themselves superiority to 
sectionalism and narrowness, basing this claim on 
confessed and crumbling falsehood. 

"As we see it now, let the people who want their 
sons taught that before the war we were a popula- 
tion of male prostitutes, regardless of color or race 
and of female accessories, and that the splendid old 
men we see wearing the crosses of honor and the 
uniforms of the Confederate veterans, our own fath- 
ers and grandfathers, fought and offered their lives 
for the perpetuation of slavery — let these people 
send their sons to Roanoke College under its present 
management. * * * We had better have poison 
put into the food of our sons than to have them 
taught that their forefathers were heads of harems, 
with their grandmothers conniving, and that the 
soldiers of the Confederacy fought to maintain 
human slavery." 



290 reminiscences. 

The Old South, the King Lear of Nations. 

BY DR. p. D. STEPHENSON, BON AIR, VA. 

Lying- on a bed of weakness after a nig-ht of rest- 
lessness, I have just read the June Veteran on the 
Elson history scandal. The only fitting- comment 
on the students' action in the matter is couched in 
King Lear's piercing cry: "How sharper than a 
serpent's tooth!" 

But how much more sharp in the Old South 's case 
than in that of old King- Lear! His anguish was at 
most but an episode of a few years after a long 
■career of unsullied honor, prosperity and power; 
while that of the Old South in this matter is the 
concentrated deadly dregs of a bitter, bitter cup 
held by force to her lips for a whole generation or 
more— a cup whose ingredients were military op- 
pression, confiscation and wholesale robbery, negro 
domination upheld by bayonets, a forced and uni- 
versal poverty and ignorance of her children, force 
bills, steady, malign and tireless vilification, and 
poisoning of the public opinion and histories of the 
whole world of that day against the South. They 
have stamped the brand of a criminal upon her brow 
not only in sight of the generation of that day but 
even in the pag-es of history. 

Not until about twenty years ago did they take 
from her lips that cup, held there until the fatal 
virus was thought to have spread well through the 
veins of her uninformed, infected children. Now 



REMINISCENCES. 291 

their hope seems to have been realized. Despite the 
magriificeat uprising to the rescue of her honor, her 
record, and the well-established truths of the history 
of the Old South through her noble U. C. V. and U. 
D. C. organizations, the moment freedom of speech 
was allowed her, despite the untiring industry and 
fidelity shown since, this evil hope, it seems, must 
prove well founded. The arms of the unshackled 
and enfeebled old Mother South are thrown around 
her offspring too late. They have already drunk of 
the cup; the poison is doing its work. Under the 
sounding name of "academic freedom" they unwind 
the arms of their dying old mother from about them; 
they turn with an air of lofty, superior scholarship 
to her scurrilous enemies and calmly sit at their feet 
instead. 

What devil's broth must it be to make children do 
such a thing as that? "Without natural affection! 
Implacable, unmerciful!" Is it not so? Is anything 
more cruel than for a child to unwind the dying old 
mother's arms from about him, smite her on the lips 
that are pleading, "Don't destroy my honor, my 
son," and then kick her and turn his back upon her? 

And what silly, shallow display of ignorance of the 
times! At the very moment when all through the 
North there is a renaissance of learning as to the 
Old South 's position in the war and a greater and 
greater respect for her views, her arguments, her 
achievements! 



292 REMINISCENCES. 

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is indeed 
to have a thankless child!" 

Kingf Lear's young-est daug-hter, Cordelia, re- 
mained true to him. Is there not one loyal child 
among- the dying Old South's children? Yes, yes; 
there must be, even among those Roanoke students, 
for I do not believe that all the students there indorsed 
that unspeakable book. 

Let, then. King Lear's youngest child, son or 
daughter, be dedicated to the task of vindicating- the 
name and fame and record of the dying yet death- 
less, the outraged yet lofty and stately high-souled 
old mother of the New South! 

[Dr. Stephenson is right. Despite the boasts that 
Confederate veterans indorse the book, there is no 
fear that any of them who have not become rene- 
g-ades will indorse the book or the faculty after they 
have carefully investigated the book and the status 
of the faculty. The sophistry throughout the book 
is its conspicuous feature, and no man or woman 
who is truly devoted to the South will have patience 
with that Roanoke College "faculty" for a moment. 
They can't do it. The Elson book infamy and the 
insolence of the Virginia college faculty in an effort 
to vindicate it are g-rievous. The men who were 
leaders in restoring the Union and who fought only 
for that are manifesting nowadays a spirit that tends 
to real peace and thorough reconciliation. Leading 
Confederates, and the "old boys" too, are co-operat- 



REMINISCENCES. 298 

ing unstintedly, and the complete restoration of con- 
ditions that existed away back at the close of the 
Revolution — before sectionalism did its unhappy 
work — make a brig-ht prospect indeed. But the im- 
perative demand for repudiating- so vile a publica- 
tion requires treatment that may mislead casual 
readers of the Veteran and cause misconstruction of 
its purposes. These occasional readers are im- 
portuned to a patient consideration of the facts in 
this controversy. Meanwhile the patriotic offices of 
Union veterans in helping to vindicate the Southern 
people ag-ainst these aspersions are earnestly im- 
plored. Confederates want fraternity, but will not 
have it at the cost of shame to themselves and 
deg-radation to the nation. These issues are of 
concern to every American who is loyal to its 
principles.] 

ELSON'S history on JOHN BROWN. 

Elson describes John Brown at Harper's Ferry as 
"an elderly man with long-, flowing- beard and with 
a strang-e, unfathomable eye, and a descendant of 
one of the Pilg-rims who had come in the Mayflower 
in 1620." [J. E. B. Stuart as the aid of Col. R. E. 
Lee was the first person to detect and expose 
Brown's identity, thoug-h he was under the assumed 
name of I Smith. Jeb Stuart had been serving- in 
Kansas.] Elson relates that Brown's father fur- 
nished cattle for the army in 1812, and that John 



294 REMINISCENCES. 

stayed for a time with a slaveholder who owned a 
negro about John's agfe, and that while "young- Brown 
was treated with the utmost kindness, the black boy 
was beaten and maltreated for little or no cause." 
This incident fixed in the youthful soul of John Brown 
hatred of slavery, etc. Elson states that when 
Brown was advised not to attempt the capture of 
Harper's Ferry "his iron will was unmoved," as 
were also "his composure" and "his tranquility of 
mind." He g^oes on to quote Northern authors' 
eulog-ies upon Brown, and then comments upon "his 
supreme self-command, his heroic courag^e, his 
readiness to sacrifice his home (?) and his family for 
a cause that must elicit our admiration." 

This is a sample of the history that is indorsed by 
the student body of Roanoke Colleg^e, at Salem, Va. 

In writing- of the Civil War it is apparent that 
Elson is an intense partisan, and yet his sophistry 
may be uncovered in every chapter wherein the 
causes of the two sections are involved. Thorsten- 
berg-, the teacher of the book in Roanoke Colleg-e, 
has shown the most creditable character of all who 
are on the defensive in the controversy. His 
promptness in discarding- the book, shows that he 
realized its infamy. 



reminiscences. 295 

Peace Between the Sections. 

By Miss Mary H. Stephenson, Petersbukg, III. 

Over fifty years have elapsed since Beauregfard 
opened fire on Fort Sumter. The four years of 
bloody war have long- since passed into history. 
But the conflict has left its sign manual on the 
sunny Southland in much bolder script than on the 
Northland. In fact, it has been written over the 
landscape of this sweet, winning, romantic section 
of our great country in letters of blood. 

The great National and Confederate cemeteries 
scattered over that region are visible signs of the 
throes of agony suffered by our nation in the sixties; 
and as the warm sunshine lies softly on the green 
graves and flowers star them, looking- up with dew- 
spangled petals toward the blue vault of heaven. 
Dame Nature seems to say to us all: "All ye be 
brethren, and it is no 'far cry' from North to 
South." There are no Alps for a Caesar to cross 
from any direction; only an invisible line, and on 
either side of that line are hearts warm and true, 
fired with a common love of our common country. 
On either side are hearts longing for a complete res- 
toration of full amity and brotherhood — yea, much 
fuller than we have had since the days of Washing-- 
ton and Adams — and, please God, we think ere longf 
we shall have it. 



296 REMINISCENCES. 

Peace hath her patriots no less than her stern 
brother, War. On both sides we considered it a 
duty to figfht for our convictions in the sixties. In 
the second decade of the twentieth century it is no 
less our duty to fill the chasm of our rent country 
with the flowers of love — love toward "our fathers' 
God," love toward our g-reat common country, love 
and forgiveness one toward another. 

Initiatory to this duty both North and South 
should realize that no principle is compromised by 
such an attitude. The veterans of the Confederate 
Army and their sons are sincerely devoted to this 
great Union. They are g"lad that their section 
of the country is under the protection of the Stars 
and Stripes. They are g-lad that we are strong- 
enoug-h to enforce the Monroe Doctrine on this 
continent, protecting: its weaker neig^hbors. 

The question as to whether our Constitution per- 
mitted a State or States to withdraw at option from 
the Union was a much-mooted one for years before 
the Civil War. At one time certain New Eng-land 
States strongly advocated the rig-ht of secession. 
It was a constitutional question which had to be 
foug-ht out sooner or later. Better sooner than later. 

At the time of the Civil War slavery was confined 
to the Southern section of our country. But traders 
of the North, particularly the Dutch traders of New 
York, in the early days had imported the black man 
,and sold him as property. 



REMINISCENCES. 297 

The North should realize its sacred duty to do all 
in its power to further this healing- of old wounds. 
Never in the history of our country has there been 
so great a need of unity of heart and purpose among 
our citizenship. In unity of hearts and purpose to 
preserve our free institutions, at whatever cost, lies 
our strength. 



WOMEN OF THE SOUTH. 

Brown McMillin, In Nashville Tennessean and American. 

DEDICATED TO DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY. 

Wives and daughters of those men who fought 

And died before the belch of cannons' fire, 
Whose hands when war was ended nobly wrought 

Wreathes for the graves and for the funeral pyre; 
Ye women of the South, whose gentle hands 

Smoothed fevered pillows when the angel came, 
Far oflfthe clans of many alien lands 

Bend knee In reverence to thy honored name. 

When arms were stacked and desolation spread 

Its tawny fingers round that lily's stem, 
Wben hope, like Hector, In the dust lay dead. 

And Greece arose translucent like a gem 
Which gleams In some proud Pharaoh's shining crown— 

'Twas then that ye, undaunted by the night, 
Its blackness horror and Its terrored frown 

Prayed to thy God for might, for light, for right. 

We of that Athens of the South which rests 

A new, a better, and wiser land 
Upon the blue-grass hillocks' gentle breast; 

Hold out to ye to-night a welcome hand. 
Full, languorous, soft— outside a smiling moon 

Speaks to the stars a whisper from its mouth; 
The nightingale, alert, takes up the tune; 

All sing a hymn of women of the South. 



REMINISCENCES. 

That hymn a prayer, an epic of the soul 

To God for thanks for that soft, blushful land 
Where e'en the brooks In silvered lyrics roll 

And oaks chant forth proud anthems as they stand; 
That South where beauty in a woman's face 

Is glorified as was the Holy Grail, 
Where men fought for their rights with grace, 

And having lost took up again the trail. 

God grant that ye, fair women of the land 

Where courage dwells and beauty ever blooms. 
Will bid us serve! Thy wish Is our command; 

Our fingers never weary at thy looms. 
God grant thy days one gloried sunlight be. 

One gentle spring without the summer's drought. 
Thy nights one moonlight on a placid sea, 

Queens of the world, fair women of the South! 



TO AL G. FIELD. 
By Dr. H. M. Hamii.l, Nashville, Tenn. 

When labor's done and life Is past. 
As comes to all of u& at last, 
And at the judgment bar we stand. 
The sheep and goats on either hand, 
I think I know your final plea 
And what your future fate shall be. 

When Gabriel's trumpet thrice has pealed. 
His cry rings forth: "Call Al G. Field!" 
And bowing low before the book 
Of fate, with kind but homely look. 
The prince of modern minstrels stands. 
An old-time banjo in his hands. 

The angel speaks: "What is thy plea 
Whereon must rest thy destiny?" 
Then, lowly kneeling. Field doth say: 
"Dear Lord, on this thy judgment day 
I bring thy gift of minstrelsy. 
Which long ago thou gavest me. 



REMINISCENCES. 299 

"I've tried to charm away men's fears, 
And oft have dried the mourner's tears; 
By song and laugh and merry jest 
Thy minstrel, Lord, hath done his best." 
Then with a smile upon his face 
The angel answers full of grace: 

"Well done, good minstrel, though men carp. 
Unstring thy banjo, take tbls harp; 
And when the Pharisees shall frown. 
Tune up thy harp and wear thy crown." 

[The impulse to write the foregoing came of Al Field's Interest and 
service at the Camp Chase memorial June 3.] 



'HE'S THE OLD TIME CONFEDERATE.' 
(Tune:— "The Old Time Religion.") 



By Rev. J. B. K. Smith. 

I 
From Bull-Run to Appomattox, 
From Belmont to Mobile harbor, 
From Oak-Hill to far off Texas, 
He's good enough for me. 

Chorus:— 
He's the old time Confederate, 
He's the old time Confederate, 
He's the old time Confederate, 
And He's good enough for me. 

II 
Lee and Johnston proud to lead him, 
Stonewall Jackson had faith in him, 
Hood and Cleburne fought beside him. 
Oh, he's good enough for me. 

Chorus:— 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 



800 REMINISCENCES. 

Ill 
On the line or In the trenches, 
Shorn of life by battles' wrenches, 
Being carved on surgeon's benches. 
He was good enough for me. 
Chorus:— 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 

IV 
On the march or In the battle. 
Mid the crash and roar and rattle, 
Scatt'rlng "Bank's and Burnslde's" cattle, 
He was good enough for me. 
Chorus:— 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 

V 
On the plain where friends lay dying, 
Thrice his strength of foe defying, 
Pressing hard "Blue Columns" flying. 
He was good enough for me. 
Chorus:— 
He'b the old time Confederate, etc. 

VI 
Starving, weak, mid scenes of ruin. 
Thoughts of freedom still pursuin'. 
With rich blood all soil bedewin". 
He was good enough for me. 
Chorus:— 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 

VII 
Hurling rocks by Cleburne's orders. 
Braving death on Dixie's borders, 
Deaf to clang of wild disorders, 
He was good enough for me. 
Chorus:- 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 



REMINISCENCES. 801 

VIII 
On the field where foemen slew him, 
In rude grave where rough hands threw him, 
Still fond mem'ry will cling to him, 
And he's good enough for me. 

Chorus: - 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 

IX 
Even down at "Santiago," 
Shinning up that "Saw Palmetto," 
Hurling shot and shell at "Blanco,"' 
He's good enough for me. 

Chorus:— 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 

X 

Home at last mid gloom and sorrow. 
Cheered by hope of Joy to-morrow. 
Scorning still to beg or borrow, 
He'8 good enough for me. 

Chorus:— 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 

XI 
Standing midst wreck and desolation, 
Building up the old plantation, 
Giving help to this proud nation. 
He's good enough for me. 

Chorus:— 
He's the old time Confederate, etc. 

XII 
Fitting theme for song and story, 
Shout it loud till heads grow hoary, 
Tell the story of the glory, 
Of the men who wore the gray. 
Chorus:— 

He's the old time Confederate, 

He's the old time Confederate, 

He's the old time Confederate, 

And he's good enough for me. 



S02 REMINISCENCES. 

EuFAULA Has Made Good Preparation. 

Old Fashioned Barbecue will be a Feature. 
"Uncle Bob" Howard will Address Old 
Soldiers. 

EuFAULA, July 22. — (Special) — Every preparation 
has been made for the Veterans' reunion to be held 
here on the 25th inst. and thousands of visitors from 
the surrounding- sections are expected to be in 
attendance upon the occasion. 

In addition to an old fashioned barbecue, which 
will be free for all, to be spread under the shelter of 
the cotton compress, some speech making- on the 
proposed county hig-hway to be in touch with the 
New York and Mobile thoroug-hfares will be an 
interesting- and instructive feature. 

Col. Robert M. Howard (better known as Uncle 
Bob) of Columbus, Ga., who bears the title of being- 
an Unreconstructed Confederate has also consented 
to address the old soldiers on the occasion. Colonel 
Howard served throughout the war and is now 78 
years old but is still blessed with remarkable 
activity for one of his years. He affirms that he 
will call a spade a spade and a hat a hat and hew to 
the line and let the chips fall where they may. He 
is in many respects a versatile g-enius and a man of 
hig-h literary attainments who will g-reatly entertain 



REMINISCENCES. 



the old soldiers on current topics pertaining- to the 
bloody sixties and his address is being- contemplated 
with especial interest and pleasure. 



Barbour Veterans are Entertained. 

Program of Exercises Enthusiastically En- 
tered UPON. Col. Howard Addresses Old 
Soldiers — News of City. 

EuFAULA, July 26. — (Special)— Business was prac- 
tically suspended in all lines yesterday and the 
occasion of the reunion of the Confederate Veterans 
and Public Hig-hway Booster was characterized by 
instructive discourses, delig-htful music by the 
Second Reg-iment Band, and a feast of g-ood thing's 
about the noon hour that beg-g-ars description. The 
prog-ram of exercises opened about 10 o'clock with 
military manoeuvres by the Eufaula Rifles on Broad 
Street, while the band played a delig-htful concert 
from the band stand. Upon the conclusion of this 
feature, a procession was formed, led by the band 
with the Rifles following- close behind, that pro- 
ceeded to the Court House where Col. Robert M. 
Howard (Uncle Bob) delivered an address to the 
old soldiers. Col. Howard spoke for fully an hour 
to a very lar^e audience, composed of men and 
women, that crowded the building- to standing- capac- 



304 REMINISCENCES. 

ity. He was briefly but eloquently introduced by 
Capt, S. H. Dent, and at times he grew elo- 
quent in defending- the South's attitude in the 
strugfgfle. He went over the old battlefields, describ- 
ing- in detail pleasing incidents, many of which were 
replete with wit, humor and pathos. He was at 
times wildly cheered and paid beautiful and touching- 
tributes to Southern women. Southern homes and 
Southern chivalry. Colonel Howard is a man whose 
information on this particular subject is broad and 
liberal, much of which has been deduced from actual 
experience in the ranks of the Southern Army, and 
his audience was also intellig-ently enlig-htened upon 
all points leading up to the g-reat strug-g-le in every 
instance of which he took occasion to defend the 
South's attitude. Colonel Howard fully demon- 
strated the correctness of his distinction in affirming- 
that he is an unreconstructed Confederate, and his 
address was a particularly pleasing- and instructive 
one along- secessional lines. 



Additional Clippings in Regard to the 
Address at Eufaula. 

Colonel Howard talked to the Veterans on the 
subject of "Howard's Yankee Doodle Dandy," and 
the address was one of the most unique, interesting- 
and entertaining- ever delivered in this city. At its 



REMINISCENCES. 806 

close the band played Dixie and "Uncle Bob" was 
given such an ovation as few men have ever received 
in Eufaula. He was literally lifted from the ground 
by his old comrades in arms. 

Hon. Charles S. McDowell stated that an address 
of welcome was not necessary, but he made a few 
introductory remarks relative to the speaker, Hon. 
Robert M. Howard, of Columbus, Ga., (Uncle Bob) 
that shook the court house with applause. He said 
Eufaula 's latch string always hangfs on the outside 
to the old soldiers. 

The Second Regiment Band played "Dixie." 

Colonel Hiram Hawkins led the "rebel yell," that 
rang" out from the Veterans as they waved their hats 
and many wept. 

Colonel Howard spoke two hours, his subject 
being, "Howard's Yankee Doodle Dandy." His 
address was unique, humorous and pathetic. 



THE OLD "BLACK MAMMY." 
By W. a. Clark, Augusta, Ga. 

She bends beneath the weight of years 

With feeble step and slow, 
Yet In her heart there throbs and shines 

The light of long ago; 

Of days when on her dear old face 
There played an angel smile. 

As in her blessed arms she held 
And crooned to sleep her "Chile." 



REMINISCENCES. 

The color of a lowly race 

Shone with its ebon glow, 
And yet the old "Black Mammy's" soul 

Was white as driven snow. 

Her toilworn hands were kind and true, 

Through all her bonded years. 
To "Mistiss" and the little ones. 

In gladness and in tears. 

And through war's wearing agony, 

Her heart was free from guile, 
And loyal to the bitter end, 

To "Mistiss" and her "Chile." 

Her ranks are waning year by year. 

On Southern hill and plain, 
And when the last "Black Mammy's" gone. 

She'll never come again. 

Yet, somewhere on the radiant hills. 

Beyond earth's woe and wile. 
Her dear old arms will fold again, 

"Old Mistiss" and her "Chile." 

God bless her— till her weary feet 

Shall touch the shining shore; 
God keep her— 'mid the cherubim. 

At rest, forevermore. 



When the First Gun Sounded. 

[The following is taken from "Lights and Shadows of a Soldier's 
Life," by Robert J. Burdette, D. D.] 

It was such a quiet, dreamy, peaceful July after- 
noon. There was the sound of a g-entle wind in the 
top of the cherry-tree, softly carrying- an ceolian ac- 
companiment to my mother's sing-ing". Once a robin 



REMINISCENCES. 307 

called. A bush of "old-fashioned roses" perfumed 
the breath of the song-. A cricket chirped in the 
grass. 

Boom ! A siegfe-g-un fired away off down in 
Charleston, and a shell burst above Fort Sumter, 
wreathing- an angry halo about the most beautiful 
flag- the sunshine ever kissed. From ocean to ocean 
the land quivered as with the shock of an earth- 
quake. Par away, from the ramparts of Sumter, a 
bugle shrilled across the States as though it were the 
voice of the trumpet of the angel calling the sheeted 
dead to rise. And close at hand the flam, flam, flam 
of a drum broke into wild thrill of the long roll, — the 
fierce snarl of the dogs of war, awakened by that 
sig-nal shot from Beauregard's batteries. 

I leaped to my feet, seized my cap, and ran to the 
window to wind my arms around my mother's neck. 

"Mother," I said, "I'm going!" 

Her beautiful face went white. She held me close 
to her heart a long, silent, praying time. Then she 
held me off and kissed me — a kiss so tender that it 
rests upon my lips to-day — and said: 

"God bless my boy!" 

And with my mother's blessing I hurried down to 
the recruiting station, and soon I marched away 
with a column of men and boys, still keeping step to 
the drum. 

But in the long years when the drum and bugle 
made my only music, often I could hear the sob, sob 



308 REMINISCENCES. 

that broke from her heart when she bade me g-ood- 
by, ming-lingr with the harsh flam, flam of the drum 
that led me from her side. And at other times when 
the bug"les sang- higfh and clear, sounding- the charg-e 
above the roar and crash of musketry and batteries, 
even then, sometimes, I could hear her still softly 
sing-ing-, "All the world should be at peace." When 
the storm of battle-passions lulled a little at times, 
there would come stealing- into the drifting" clouds of 
acrid powder-smoke sweet strains of the old song-s, 
the tender, old-fashioned melodies about home, and 
love, and peace, and the robin, and the carrier-dove. 

I could see the window where she sat and sewed 
and sang- on my birthday. I knew the song-, and I 
could see how g-ently she rocked, and could hear how 
soft and low the voice fell at times. I knew that 
once in a while the sewing- would fall from her 
hands, and they would lie clasped in her lap, while 
the song- ceased as it tiirned into a prayer. And I 
knew for whom she was praying-. 

All the way from Peoria to Corinth, from Corinth 
to Vicksburg-, up the Red River country, down to 
Mobile and Fort Blakely, and back to Tupelo and 
Selma, the voice and the song- and the prayer fol- 
lowed me, and at last led me back home. 

I learned then, thoug-h I did not know it nearly so 
well as I do now, that there is no place on earth 
where a boy can get so far away from his mother 
that her song- and her prayer and her love will not 



REMINISCENCES. 309 

follow him. There is only one love that will follow 
him farther; that has sweeter patience to seek him; 
that has surer wisdom to find him; that is mightier 
to save him and bring- him back to home and love 
and peace. What a Love that is which will endure 
long-er and suffer more and do more than hers! 
What a Love! 

I once heard a man say, — he had never been a 
soldier, — "If a woman is ever given the ballot, like 
a man, she should be compelled to shoulder a musket 
and g-o to war, like the men." 

Such a foolish, cowardly, brutal thing to say! 
Sometimes the government has to conscript men to 
make them fight for their country. When has 
woman ever shrunk from going to war? "She risked 
her life when the soldier was born." She wound her 
arms around him through all the years of his help- 
lessness. Night after night, when fell disease 
fought for the little soldier's tender life, she robbed 
her aching eyes of sleep, a faithful sentinel over his 
cradle. She nourished him on her own life, a foun- 
tain drawn from her mother- breasts. She stood 
guard over him, keeping all the house quiet when he 
would sleep in the noisy day-time. She stood on the 
firing-line, battling with the foes of uncleanness, 
contagion, sudden heat and biting cold, protecting 
her little soldier in the clean, sweet fortress of his 
home. She taught him his first cooing words that 
some day he might have mighty voice and brave 



810 REMINISCENCES. 

words of defiance to shout ag^ainst his country's 
foes. She taug-ht him his first step — such a waver- 
ing-, uncertain little step — that some day he could 
keep step to the drum-beat and march with the men 
— a free, swing-ing- stride — as they followed the flag". 
She trained him up to be a manly man, to hate a lie 
and despise a mean action, to be noble and chivalrous. 
She builded a strong" man out of her woman's soul. 

THE WOMAN'S HARVEST. 

And then one day, when the bug-les shrilled and 
the drum beat, she kissed him and sent him forth at 
the wheels of the g-uns— her beautiful boy — to be 
food for the fire-breathingf maw of the black-lipped 
cannon! Her boy! Heart of her heart! Life of her 
life! Love of her soul! 

The exultant news flashes over the wires. "Glor- 
ious victory," shout the papers in crimson headlines, 
"ten thousand killed!" 

And in the long list there is only one name she can 
read. It stands out black as a pall upon the white 
paper — characters of nig-ht against the morning sun- 
shine — the name she g^ave her first-born. 

And that is the end of it all. All the years of ten- 
der nursing-; of tireless care; of patient training; of 
loving- teaching^; of sweet companionship; and of all 
the little walks and talks; the tender confidences of 
mother and son; the budding- days; the blossoming- 
years — this is the harvest. This is war. 



REMINISCENCES. 811 



[This was the great sentimental song of the war period. It 
rare and a copy was secured only with the greatest difficulty.] 

The years creep slowly by, Lorena; 

The snow Is on the grass again; 
The sun's low down the sky, Lorena; 

The frost gleams where the flowers have been. 
But the heart throbs on as warmly now 

As when the summer days were nigh. 
Oh, the sun can never dip so low 

As down affection's cloudless sky, 
Oh, the sun can never, etc. 

A hundred months have passed, Lorena, 

Since last I held that hand In mine, 
And felt the pulse beat high, Lorena, 

Though mine beat faster far than thine, 
A hundred months, 'twas flowery May, 

When up the hilly slope we climbed 
To watch the dying of the day 

And hear the distant church bells chime. 
To watch the dying of the day, etc. 

We loved each other then, Lorena, 

More than we ever dared to tell: 
And what we might have been, Lorena, 

Had but our loving prospered well. 
But then, 'tis past, the years have gone, 

I'll not call up their shadowy forma, 
I'll say to them, "Lost years, sleep on. 

Sleep on, nor heed life's perilous storms." 
I'll say to them, etc. 

The story of the past, Lorena, 

Alas, I care not to repeat 
The hopes that could not last, Lorena, 

They lived, but only lived to cheat, 
I would not cause e'en one regret 

To rankle In your bosom now— 
"For 1/ we try we may forget" 

Were words of thine years ago. 
For If we try, etc. 



812 REMINISCENCES. 

Yes, these were words of thine, Lorena— 

They are within my memory yet— 
They touched some tender chords, Lorena, 

Which thrill and tremb e with regret. 
'Twas not thy woman's heart which spoke- 

Thy heart was always true to me. 
A duty stern and piercing broke 

The tie which linked my soul with thee. 
A duty stern, etc. 

It matters little now, Lorena, 

The past Is the eternal past; 
Our hearts will soon lie low, Lorena, 

Life's tide is ebbing out so fast. 
There is a future, oh, thank God! 

Of life this Is so small a part— 
'Tls dust to dust beneath the sod. 

But there, up there, 'tis heart to heart. 
Of life this, etc. 



MARYLAND. 
[Written at Point Uoupee, La., April 26, 1861, by James R. Randall. 

The despot's heel is on thy shore, 

Maryland! 
His torch is at thy temple door, 

Maryland! 
Avenge the patriotic gore 
That flecked the streets of Baltimore, 
And be the battle queen of yore, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 

Hark! to the exiled son's appeal, 

Maryland! 
My mother State, to thee I kneel, 

Maryland! 
For life and death, for woe and weal. 
Thy peerless chivalry reveal. 
And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 



REMINISCENCES. 813 

Thou wilt not cower In the dust, 

Maryland! 
Thy beaming sword shall never rust, 

Maryland! 
Remember Carroll's sacred trust, 
Remember Howard's war-like thrust, 
And all thy slumberers with the Just, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 

Come! 'Tls the red dawn of the day, 

Maryland! 
Come! With thy panoplied array, 

Maryland! 
With Ringgold's spirit for the fray, 
With Watson's blood at Monterey, 
With peerless Lowe and dashing May, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 

Dear Mother, burst the Tyrant's chain, 

Maryland! 
Virginia should not oajl In vain, 

Maryland! 
She meets her sisters on the plain, 
"Sic Semper" — 'tis the proud refrain, 
That baffles minions back amain, 

Maryland! 
Arise in majesty again, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 

Come! for thy shield is bright and strong, 

Maryland! 
Come! for thy dalliance does thee wrong, 

Maryland! 
Come! thine own heroic throng. 
Striding with liberty along. 
And sing thy dauntless slogan song, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 

I see the blush upon thy cheek, 

Maryland! 
For thou wast ever bravely meek, 

Maryland! 
But lo! there surges forth a shriek 
From hill to hill, from creek to creek- 
Potomac calls to Chesapeake, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 



314 REMINISCENCES. 

Thou wilt not yield the vandal toll, 

Maryland! 
Thou wilt not crook to his control, 

Maryland! 
Better the fire upon thee roll. 
Better the shot, the blade, the bowl, 
Than crucifixion of the soul, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 

1 hear the distant thunder hum, 

Maryland! 
The Old Line bugle, fife and drum, 

Maryland! 
She Is not dead, nor deaf nor dumb. 
Huzza! She spurns the Northern scum! 
She breathes! She turns! She'll come! 
She'll come! 

Maryland! My Maryland! 



"Yankee Doodle drew his sword, 
And practiced all the passes; 
Come, boys, we'll take another drink 
When we get to Manassas. 

"Yankee Doodle, doodle-doo; 
Yankee Doodle dandy 
They never reached Manassas Plain, 
And never got the brandy. 

"Yankee Doodle, oh! for shame, 
You're always Intermeddling: 
Let guns alone, they are dangerous things. 
You'd better stick to peddling. 

"Yankee Doodle, doodle-doo, 
Yankee Doodle dandy 
When next you go to Bully Run 
You'll throw away the brandy." 



REMINISCENCES. 815 



A PRAYER. 



{By a mother for her son, aged fifteen. Written at iMemphls, July 
26, 1864.] 

God bless my darling venturous boy 

Where'er his feet may stray; 
God bless the sacred righteous cause 

For which he went away; 
God bless the little arm 'round which 

My wristlet went not tight. 
Strengthen It, Lord, till It become 

A David's in the fight. 

So young, so bright, so fair, so brave, 

To Thee, oh God above 
I leave the charge to shield and save 

The idol of my love. 
One more to battle for the right 

Of free men to be free. 
That hero's heart and child-like form, 

1 dedicate to Thee. 



ALL QUIET ALONG THE POTOMAC. 

[The authorship of this poem has been disputed. It is ascribed to 
Lamar Fontaine, Second Virginia Cavalry.] 

"All quiet along the Potomac to-night," 
Except now and then a stray picket 

Is shot as he walks on his beat to and fro, 
By a rifleman hid in the thicket. 

'Tis nothing— a private or two now and then 
Will not count In the news of the battle. 

Not an officer lost— only one of the men- 
Moaning out, all alone, the death rattle. 

"All quiet along the Potomac to-night," 

Where the soldiers lie peacefully dreaming; 
Their tents, in the rays of the clear autumn moon 

Or the light of the watch fires are gleaming, 
A tremulous sigh, as the gentle nlght-wlnd 

Through the forest leaves slowly is creeping, 
While the stars up above, with their glittering eyes, 

Keep guard— for the army is sleeping. 



816 REMINISCENCES. 

There Is only the^sound of the lone sentry's tread, 

As he tramps from the rock to the fountain, 
And thinks of the two In the low trundle bed, 

Far away In the cot on the mountain. 
His musket falls slack— his face, dark and grim, 

Grows gentle with memories tender. 
As he mutters a prayer for his children asleep— 

For their mother, may heaven defend her! 

The moon seems to shine as brightly as then, 

That night, when the love yet unspoken 
Leaped up to his lips, and when low-murmured vows 

Were pledged to be ever unbroken. 
Then drawing his sleeve roughly over his eyes. 

He dashes off tears that are welling. 
And gathers his gun close up to Its place. 

As If to keep down the heart swelling. 

He passes the fountain, the blasted pine tree— 

The footstep is lagging and weary. 
Yet onward he goes, through the broad belt of light, 

Towards the shades of the forest so dreary. 
Hark! was it the night-wind that rustled the leaves? 

Was it moonlight so wondrously flashing? 
It looked like a rifle— ha! Mary, goodbye! 

And the life blood is ebbing and splashing! 

"All quiet along the Potomac to-night," 
No sound save the rush of the river; 

While soft falls the dew on the face of the dead— 
The picket's off duty forever. 



SOMEBODY'S DARLING. 
Miss Mary La Coste, Georgia. 

Into a ward of the Mhlte-washed halls 

Where the dead and dying lay — 
Wounded by bayonets, shells and balls, 

Somebody's darling was borne one day. 
Somebody's darling so young and so brave! 

Wearing yet on his sweet pale face- 
Soon to be hid by the dust of the grave— 

The lingering light of his boyhood's grace. 



REMINISCENCES. 817 

Somebody's watching and waiting for him, 
Yearning to hold him again to her heart; 

And there he lies, with his blue eyes dim, 
And his smiling, child-like lips apart. 

Tenderly bury the fair young dead- 
Pausing to drop o'er his grave a tear; 

Carve on the wooden slab o'er his head, 
"Somebody's darling slumbers here." 



THEY SHOULD NOT REST APART. 

Father Ryan. 

Gather the sacred dust 

Of the warriors tried and true. 
Who bore the flag of our nation's trust 
And fell In a cause as great as Just, 
And died for me and you. 

Gather them, each and all. 
From the private to the chief. 

Come they from cabin or lordly hall; 

Over their dust let the fresh tears fall 
Of a nation's holy grief. 

No matter whence they came. 

Dear Is their lifeless clay; 
Whether unknown or known to fame. 
Their cause and country were the same— 

They died— and they wore the gray. 



O, I'M A GOOD OLD REBEL. 
By Maj. Innis Randolph. 

Oh, I'm a good old Rebel, 

Now, that'.s just what I am; 
For the "Fair Land of Freedom" 

I do not care— at all; 
I'm glad I fit against It, 

I only wish we'd won; 
And 1 don't want no pardon 

For anything I done. 



REMINISCENCES. 

I hates the Constitution, 

This Great Republic, too; 
1 hates the Freedman's Buro' 

In uniforms of blue; 
I hates the nasty eagle, 

With all his brags and fuss; 
The lyin', thievin' Yankees, 

1 hates them wuss and wuss. 
1 hales the Yankee Nation 

And everything they do, 
1 hates the Declaration 

Of Independence, to; 
1 hates the glorious Union— 

'Tls dripping with our blood— 
I hate their striped banner, 

I fit it all I could. 
1 followed old Mars' Robert 

For four year, near about. 
Got wounded in three places 

And starved at Point Lookout. 
I cotch the roomatism 

A campin' in the snow. 
I killed a chance o' Yankees, 

I'd like to kill some mo'. 
Three hundred thousand Yankees 

Is stiff in .Southern dust; 
We got three hundred thousand 

Before they conquered us; 
They died of Southern fever 

And .Southern steel and shot; 
I wish they was three million 

Instead of what we got. 
I can't take up my musket 

And flght "em now any more, 
But I ain't going to love 'em, 

Now that is certain sure; 
And I don't want no pardon 

For what I was and am, 
1 won't be reconstructed. 
And I don't care a damn. 



REMINISCENCES. 81! 

THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG. 

(Written April, 1861, and immensely popular.) 

[The^flrBt flag of the South was of solid blue with one white ilar.] 

We are a band of brothers 
And native to the soil. 
Fighting for the property 
We gained by honest toll; 
And when our rights were threatened, 
The cry rose near and far— 
"Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag 
That bears the single star!" 

Chorus: 
Hurrah! Hurrah! 
For Southern rights, hurrah! 
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag 
That bears the single star! 

As long as e'er the Union 

Was faithful to her trust, 

Like friends and like brothers 

Both kind were we and just; 

But now, when Northern treachery 

Attempts our rights to mar. 

We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag 

That bears the single star. 

Chorus. 

First gallant South Carolina 

Nobly made the stand. 

Then came Alabama, 

Who took her by the hand; 

Next quickly Mississippi, 

Georgia and Florida 

All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag 

That bears the single star. 

Chorus. 



REMINISCENCES. 

And here's to old Virginia— 
The Old Dominion State— 
With the young Confed'racy 
At length has linked her fate; 
Impelled by her example, 
Now other States prepare 
To hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag 
That bears the single star. 
Chorus. 

Then here's to our Confederacy, 
Strong are we and brave, 
Like patriots of old will flght 
Our heritage to save. 
And rather than submit to shame, 
To die we would prefer; 
So cheer for the Bonnie Blue Flag 
That bears the single star. 
Chorus. 

Then cheer, boys, cheer! 
Raise the joyous shout, 
For Arkansas and North Carolina 
Now have both gone out; 
And let another rousing cheer 
For Tennessee be given, 
The single star of the Bonnie Blue Flag 
Has grownto be eleven! 
Chorus. 



A CONFEDERATE DITTY. 

Wrap me in a Secesh flag, 
Bury me by Jefl" Davis, 
Give my love to General Lee, 
And kiss all the Southern ladles. 



REMINISCENCES. 821 

THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD. 
By Captain Theodore O'Hara. 

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat, 
The soldier's last tattoo; 
No more on life's parade shall meet 
That brave and fallen few. 

On fame's eternal camping ground 
Their silent tents are spread, 
And glory guards with solemn round, 
The bivouac of the dead. 

No rumor of the foe's advance 

Now sweeps upon the wind, 

No troubled thought at midnight haunts 

Of loved ones left behind. 

No vision of the morrow's strife 
The warrior's dream alarms; 
Nor braying horn, nor screaming fife 
At dawn shall call to arms. 

Their shivered swords are red with rust. 
Their plumed heads are bowed, 
Their haughty banner, trailed In dust, 
Is now their martial shroud. 

And plenteous funeral-tears have washed 
The red stains from each brow; 
And the proud forms by battle gashed, 
Are freed from anguish now. 

The neighing troop, the flashing blade, 
The bugle's stirring blast. 
The charge, the dreadful cannonade, 
The din and shout are past. 

Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal, . 
Shall thrill with fierce delight 
Those breasts that never more may feel 
The rapture of the flght. 



REMINISCENCES. 



LAMENT OF THE IRISH EMIGRANT. 
By Lady Duffebin. 

I'm sittln' on theBtlle, Mary, 

Where we sat side by side 
On a^brlght May mornin' long ago, 

When first you were my bride, 
The corn was sprlngln' fresh and green, 

And the lark sang loud and high 
And the red was on your lip, Mary, 

And the lovelight in your eye. 

The place Is little changed, Mary— 

The day Is bright as then; 
The lark's loud song is in my ear, 

And the corn is green again; 
But I miss the soft clasp of your hand. 

And your breath, warm on my cheek; 
And I still keep list'nin' for the words 

You never more will speak 

'Tls but a step down yonder lane. 

And the little church stands near— 
The church where we were wed, Mary, 

I see the spire from here. 
But the graveyard lies between, Mary, 

And my step might break your rest— 
For I've laid you, darling, down to sleep. 

With your baby on your breast. 

I'm very lonely now, Mary, 

For the poor make no new friends; 
But, O, we love the better still 

The few our Father sends; 
And you were all I had, Mary, 

My blessin' and my pride; 
There's nothing left to care for now. 

Since my poor Mary died. 



REMINISCENCES. 

Yours was the good, brave heart, Mary, 

That still kept hoping on. 
When the trust in God had left my soul, 

And my arm's young strength was gone; 
There was comfort ever on your lip. 

And the kind look on your brow— 
I bless you, Mary, for that same, 

Tho' you cannot hear me now. 

I thank you for the patient smile, 

When your heart was fit to break- 
When the hunger pain was gnawln' there 

And you hid It for my sake; 
I bless you for the pleasant word, 

When your heart was sad and sore— 
O, I'm thankful you are gone, Mary, 

Where grief can't reach you more! 

I'm bidding you a long farewell. 

My Mary, kind and true! 
But I'll not forget you, darling. 

In the land I'm going to; 
They say there's bread and work for all. 

And the sun shines always there— 
But I'll not forget old Ireland, 

Were It fifty times as fair! 

And often jn those grand old woods 

I'll sit and shut my eyes. 
And my heart will travel back again 

To the place where Mary lies; 
And I'll think I see the little stile 

Where we sat side by side, 
And the sprlngln' corn and the bright May morn 

When first you were my bride. 



REMINISCENCES. 

THE HIGH TIDE AT GETTYSBURG. 

By an Ex-Confederate Soldier. 

A cloud possessed the hollow fleld, 
The gathering battle's smoky shield, 
Athwart the gloom the lightning flashed, 
And through the cloud some horsemen dashed, 
And from the heights the thunder pealed. 

Then at the brief command of Lee 
Moved out that matchless Infantry, 
With Plcliett leading grandly down, 
To rush against the roaring crown 
Of those dread heights of destiny. 

Far heard above the angry guns 

A cry across the tumult runs— 

The voice that rang through Shiloh's woods 

And Chickamauga's solitudes. 

The fierce South cheering on her sons! 

Ah, how the withering tempest blew 
Against the front of Pettigrew! 
A Kamsin wind that scorched and singed 
Like that infernal flame that fringed 
The British squares at Waterloo! 

A thousand fell where Kemper led; 
A thousand died where Garnett bled; 
In blinding flame and straugling smoke 
The remnant through the batteries broke 
And crossed the works with Armistead. 

"Once more in Glory's van with me!" 
Virginia cried to Tennessee; 
"We two together, come what may. 
Shall stand upon these works to-day!" 
(The reddest day In history.) 

Brave Tennessee! In reckless way 
Virginia heard her comrade say: 
"Close round this rent and riddled rag!" 
What time she sets her battle-flag 
Amid the guns of Doubleday. 



REMINISCENCES. 

But who shall break the guards that wait 
Before the awful face of Fate? 
The tattered standards of the South 
Were shriveled at the cannon's mouth, 
And all her hopes were desolate. 

In vain the Tennessean set 
His bravest against the bayonet! 
In vain Virginia charged and raged, 
A tigress in her wrath uncaged. 
Till all the hill was red and wet! 

Above the bayonets, mixed and crossed, 
Men saw a gray, gigantic ghost 
Receding through the battle-cloud. 
And heard across the tempest loud 
The death cry of a nation lost! 

The brave went down! Without disgrace 
They leaped to ruin's red embrace, 
They only heard Fame's thunders wake, 
And saw the dazzling sun-burst break 
In smiles on Glory's bloody face! 

They fell, who lifted up a hand 
And bade the sun in heaven to stand! 
They smote and fell, who set the bars 
Against the progress of the stars, 
And stayed the march of Motherland! 

They stood, who saw the future come 
On through the fight's delirium! 
They smote and stood, who held the hope 
Of nations on that slippery slope 
Amid the cheers of Christendom! 

God lives! He forged the iron will 
That clutched and held that trembling hill. 
God lives and reigns! He built and lent 
The heights for Freedom's battlement 
Where floats her flag in triumph still! 



REMINISCENCES. 

Fold up the banners! Smelt the guns! 
Love rules. Her gentler purpose runs. 
The mighty mother turns In tears 
The pages of her battle years, 
Lamenting all her fallen sons! 



STONEWALL JACKSON'S WAY. 

Des Livieres. 

[We here reproduce a lyric which was extremely popular In many 
parts of the South. The unknown author draws a picture which ad- 
dresses Itself at once to the eye, and through the eye to the heart. Th» 
poem deserves to be preserved among the literary relics of the times. 
Every Southerner will read It with Interest.] 
• 

Come! stack arms, men! Pile on the rails. 

Stir up the camp fires bright. 
No matter If the canteen fails, 

We'll make a roaring night. 
Here Shenandoah brawls along, 
There lofty Blue Ridge echoes strong 
To swell the brigade's rousing song 
Of "StouewallJacksou's Way." 

We see him now— the old slouched hat 

Cocked o'er his eye askew; 
The shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat. 

So calm, so blunt, so true. 
The "Blue Light Elder" knows them well; 
Says he, "That's Banks— he's fond of shell; 
Lord save his soul; we'll give him—" Well 

That's "Stonewall Jackson's Way." 

Silence! ground arms! kneel all! caps oflT! 

Old Blue Light's going to pray; 
Strangle the fool who dares to scoflf! 

Attention! it's his way; 
Appealing from his native sod. 
In forma pauperis to God — 
"Lay bare thine arm, stretch forth thy rod; 

Amen!" That's "Stonewall Jackson's Way." 



REMINISCENCES. 

He's In the saddle now. "Fall In! 

Steady! the whole brigade! 
Hill's at the ford, cut off! We'll win 

His way out ball and blade. 
What matter if our shoes are worn? 
What matter if our feet are torn? 
Quick step! we're with him e'er the morn." 

That's •'Stonewall Jackson's Way." 

The sun's bright glances rout the mists 

Of morning— and, by George! 
There's Longstreet struggling in the lists. 

Hemmed in an ugly gorge. 
Pope and his columns whipped before, 
"Bay'nets and grape!" hear Stonewall roar; 
"Charge Stuart! pay off Ashby's score!" 

Is "Stonewall Jackson's Way." 

Ah! raalden, wait and watch and yearn 

For news of Stonewall's band; 
Ah! widow, read with eyes that burn 

That ring upon thy hand. 
Ah! wife, sew on, pray on, hope on. 
Thy life shall not be all forlorn; 
The foe had better ne'er been born 

Than get In "Stonewall's Way." 



THE JACKET OF GRAY. 

'Fold It up carefully, lay It aside, 
Tenderly touch it, look on it with pride— 
For dear must it be to our hearts evermore. 
The Jacket of Gray our loved soldier boy wore. 

"Ah! vain, all vain, were our prayers and our tears; 
The glad shout of victory sang In our ears, 
But our treasured one on the red battlefield lay. 
While the life blood oozed out of the Jacket of Gray. 



REMINISCENCES. 

"His young comrades found him and tenderly bore 
The cold, lifeless form to his home by the shore. 
Oh! dark were our hearts on that terrible day, 

"When we saw our dead boy in the Jacket of Gray. 

"We laid him to rest In his cold, narrow bed, 
And graved on the marble we placed o'er his head. 
As the proudest of tributes our proud hearts could say, 
'He never disgraced the Jacket of Gray.' 

"Then fold it up carefully, lay it aside. 
Tenderly touch it, look on it with pride— 
For dear must it be to our hearts evermore, 
The Jacket of Gray our soldier boy wore." 



LITTLE GIFFEN. 

By Dr. F. O. Ticknob. 

Out of the focal and foremost Are, 
Out of the hospital walls as dire; 
Smitten of grape-shot and gangrene, 
(Eighteenth battle, and he sixteen!) 
Spectre! such as you seldom see. 
Little Giffen, of Tennessee! 

"Take him and welcome!" the surgeons said; 
"Little the doctor can help the dead!" 
So we took him; and brought him where 
The balm was sweet in the summer air; 
And we laid him down on a wholesome bed- 
Utter Lazarus, heel to head! 

And we watched the war with abated breath- 
Skeleton Boy against skeleton Death. 
Months of torture, how many such? 
Weary weeks of the stick and crutch; 
And still a glint of the steel-blue eye 
Told of a spirit that wouldn't die, 



REMINISCENCES. 

And didn't. Nay, more! in death's despite 
Ttie crippled slieleton "learned to write." 
"Dear Mother," at first, of course; and then 
"Dear Captain," inquiring about the men. 
Captain's answer, "Of eighty-and-flve, 
Glffen and I are left alive." 

Word of gloom from the war, one day; 

Johnston pressed at the front, they say. 

Little Giffen was up and away, 

A tear— his first— as he bade good-by. 

Dimmed the glint of his steel-blue eye. 

"I'll write, if spared!" There was news of the fight; 

But none of Giffen. He did not write. 

I sometimes fancy that, were 1 King 

Of the princely Knights of the Golden Ring, 

With the song of the minstrel in mine ear, 

And the tender legend that trembles here, 

I'd give the best on his bended linee. 

The whitest soul of my chivalry, 

For "Little Giflfen, of Tennessee." 



"OUR LEFT." 
By Dr. F. O. Ticknob. 

(Manassas) 

From dawn to dark they stood 
That long midsummer day, 

While fierce and fast 

The battle blast 
Swept rank on rank away. 

From dawn to dark they fought, 
With legions torn and cleft; 

And still the wide 

Black battle-tide 
Poured deadlier on "Our Left.' 



REMINISCENCES. 

They closed each ghastly gap; 
They dressed each shattered rank; 
They knew— how well- 
That freedom fell 
With that exhausted flank. 

"Oh, for a thousand men 
Like these that melt away!" 
And down they came, 
With steel and flame. 
Four thousand to the fray! 

Right through the blackest cloud 
Their lightning path they cleft; 
And triumph came 
With deathless fame 
To our unconquered "Left." 

Ye, of your sons secure, 
Ye, of your dead bereft. 
Honor the brave 
Who died to save 
Your all upon" Our Left." 



Important Events and Battles of the 
Civil War. 

JANUARY, 1861. 
9th.— The "Star of the West," sent to reinforce Gen. Anderson and 
his command at Fort Sumter, S. C, was flred upon from Morris Island, 
and obliged to return to New York. 

MARCH, 1861. 

The Confederate Congress adopted for the flag of the Confederacy 
the "stars and bars." 

12th.— The President declined to receive the commissioners from the 
Confederate States. 



REMINISCENCES. 331 

APRIL, 1861. 
12th.— An attack was made on Fort Sumter, Charleston harbor. 
19th.— The President declared the Southern ports blockaded. 
19th.— The Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts, was mobbed In 
Baltimore on Its passage toward Washington. 
JUNE, 1861. 
10th.— The battle of Big Bethel, Va. 
17th.— The battle of BoonevUle, Mo. 

JULY, 1861. 
6th.— The battle of Carthage, Mo. 
nth.— The battle of Rich Mountain, W. Va. 
18th.— The battle of CentrevlUe, Va. 
21st.— The battle of Bull Run, Va. 
21st.— The first battle of Manassas Junction, Va. 

AUGUST, 1861. 
6th.— The battle of Athens, Mo. 
10th.— The battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo. 

SEPTEMBER, 1861. 
10th.— The battle of Carnlfex Ferry, W. Va. 

OCTOBER. 1861. 
8th.— Fort Pickens, Fla., was attacked by Confederates. 
21st.— The battle of Ball's Bluff, Va. 

NOVEMBER, 1861. 
1st.— General Geo. B. McClellan was made commander-in-chief. 
7th.— The battle of Belmont, Miss. 

7th.— An expedition captured Fort Walker, on Hilton Head, S. C, 
and Fort Beauregard on the Broad River. 

19th.— The English mall-packet Trent was boarded by Captain 
Wilkes, of the San Jacinto, and the Confederate commissioners. Mason 
andSUdell, captured. 

JANUARY, 1862. 
1st.— Messrs. Mason and Slldell were surrendered on a demand of 
the British government. 

10th.— The battle of Middle Creek, Ky. 
19th.-The battle of Mill Spring, Ky. 

FEBRUARY, 1862. 
6th.— Fort Henry, Tenn., surrendered to the Union forces. 
8th.— The battle of Roanoke Island. 
14th.— The battle of Newbern, N. C. 



332 REMINISCENCES. 

MARCH, 1862. 

7lh and 8th.— Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. 

8th.— The Confederate ram Merrimac appeared at Hampton Roads. 
She sank the warship Cumberland, captured the Congress, and forced 
the Minnesota aground, and then returned to Norfolk. 

9th.— The Merrimac reappeared. The new iron-clad Monitor, Lieu- 
tenant Worden commander, had arrived the night before, and her 
commander engaged the Merrimac on her apperance, and forced her 
back to Norfolk. 

10th.— Manassas Junction, Va., was evacuated by the Confederates. 

23rd.— The Battle at Winchester, Va. 

APRIL, 1862. 
6th and 7th.— The battle at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. 
7th.— Island No. 10, in the Mississippi, surrendered. 
9th.-The battle of .Shiloh. 

11th.— Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, surrendered. 
12th.— Gold was first quoted at a premium. 

MAY, 1862. 
1st.— The Army captured New Orleans. 
3rd.— The battle of Chancellorsville. 
5th.— The battle of Williamsburg, Va. 
25th.— The battle of Winchester, Va. 
27th.— The battle of Hanover Court House, Va. 
27th.— The assault on Port Hudson. 
31st.— The battle of Seven Pines, Va. 

JUNE, 1862. 
6th.— Memphis surrendered to the Union forces. 
8th.— The battle of Cross Keys, Va. 
25th.— The seven days' battle around Richmond began. 
26th.— The battle of Mechanicsville, Va. 
27th.— The battle of Cold Harbor, Va. 

28th.— Commodore Farragut, who had run the blockade at Vlcks- 
burg, began to bombard the city. 

John Morgan, with a Confederate force, raided through Ohio. 
29th.— The battle of Savage's Station, Virginia. 
30th.— The battle of Frazier's Farm. 

JULY, 1862. 
1st.— The battle of Malvern Hill, Va. 



REMINISCENCES. 333 

AUGUST, 1862. 

5th.— The battle of Baton Rouge, La. 

5th.— Battle of Cedar Mountain, Va. 

2Srd.— A general battle with General Pope's forces took place. 

29th.— The battle of Groveton, Va. 

30th.— A battle at Manassas, Va. 

30th.— The battle of Richmond, Ky. 

SIi:PTEMBP:R, 1862. 

1st.— The battle of Ox Hill, Va. 

1st.— The battle of Chantllly, Va. 

14th.— The battle of South Mountain, Md. 

15th.— Harper's Ferry was captured by the Confederates. 

17th.— The battle of Antietam, Md. 

17th.— The garrison at Munfordsvllle, Ky., surrendered to the Con- 
federates. 

19th.— The Confederate forces were defeated at luka. Miss. 

22d.— President Lincoln Is.sued the proclanaation abolishing slavery 
In the Southern States, unless they returned to the Union before 
January 1, 1863. 

OCTOBER, 1S62. 

3d.— Battle of Corinth, Miss. 

8th.— The battle of Perryville, Ky. 

10th.— A raid on Chambersburg, Penn., was made by a Confederate 
force under General Stuart. 

18th.— General Morgan made a raid In Kentucky. 

DECEMBER. 1862. 
7th.— The Confederates were defeated at Pi-alrle Grove, Ark. 
nth.— Fredericksburg, Va., was bombarded-,by the Federals. 
27th.— General Sherman was repulsed at Chickasaw Bayou, Miss. 
29th.— Battle of Stone River, Tenn. 
30th.— The siege of Vicksburg, MlS3., was abandoned by General 



3l8t.— Second battle of Stone River, Tenn. 

JANUARY, 1863. 
J St. —The emancljatlon proclamation was Issued. 
8th.— The battle of Springfield, Mo. 

MARCH, 1863. 
21st.— Battle of Cottage Grove, Tenn. 
80th.— Battle near Somervllle, Ky. 



334 REMINISCENCES. 

MAY, 1868. 
2d.— The battle of Port Gibson, Miss. 
2d.— The battle of Chancellorsville, Va. 
12th.— Battle of Raymond, Miss. 
16th.— The battle of Champion's Hill, Miss. 
17th.— Battle of Big Black River, Miss. 
18th.— Vlcksburg, Miss., was Invested. 
19th.— The first assault on Vlcksburg was repulsed. 
27th.— An unsuccessful attack was made on Port Hudson, La. 

JUNE, 1863. 

loth.— The Federals were defeated at Winchester, Va. 

24th.— Morgan started upon another raid through Kentucky and 
Ohio. 

24th and 25th.— Chambersburg, Penn., was occupied by the Confed- 
erates. 

30th.— Battle of Hanover Junction, Va. 

JULY, 1863. 
2d.— The battle of Gettysburg, Penn. 
4th.— Vlcksburg, Miss., surrendered to General Grant. 
9th.— Port Hudson surrendered. 
10th.— An assault on Fort Wagner was repulsed. 
13th.— The draft riots in New York. 

AUGU.ST, 1863. 
20th.— Lawrence, Kan., was burned. 

NOVEMBER, 1863. 
15th.— Battle of Campbells' Station. 

24th.— Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Bldge were 
fought at Chattanooga, Tenn. 

MAY, 1864. 

4th.— The Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapldan, and encamped 
In the "Wilderness." 

5th and 6th.— Battles ol the Wilderness, Va. 

6th.— General Sherman began his Atlanta campaign. 

9th.— Battle of Spotlsylvania, Va. 

14th.— Battle of Resaca, Ga. 

25th.— Battle of New Hope Church Station, Ga. 

26th.— The Confederates were repulsed In an attack on City Point, 
Va. 



REMINISCENCES. 335 

JUNE, 1864. 

ist.— Battle of Cold Harbor, Va. 

3d.— A battle was fought near Cold Harbor, Va. 

16th.— Federals were defeated in attack on Petersburg, Va. 

19th.— The Investment of Petersburg, Va., was begun. 

19th.— The Alabama was sunk off Cherbourg, France, by the Kear- 
sarge. 

21st and 22d.— The Federals were repulsed In attacks upon the Wel- 
don Railroad, Va. 

27th.— Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. 

28th.— The Confederates moved on Washington by way of the 
Bbenandoab Valley, Va. 

JULY, 1864. 

9th.— Battle of Monocacy Klver, Md. 

20th.— Battle of Peach Tree Creek, Ga. 

22d.— Battle of Decatur, Ga. 

30th.— Another unsuccessful assault was made by the Federals upon 
Petersburg, Va. 

AUGUST, 1864. 

6th.— Fort Gaines, In Mobile Bay, surrendered to Admiral Farragut. 

21st.— The Weldon Pi,allroad captured. 

31st.— The battle of Jonesboro. 

SEPTEMBER, 1864. 

2d.— The Federals entered Atlanta. 

19th. -The battle of Winchester, Va. 

22d.— The battle of Fisher's Creek, Va. 

30th.— Battle at Peebles Farm, Va. 

OCTOBER, 1864. 

2d.— Battle of Holston River, Va. 

6th.— Battle of Allatoona Pass, Ga. 

19th.— Battle of Cedar Creek, Va. 

27th.— The Federals were repulsed at Hatcher's Run, Va. 

NOVE.MBER, 1864. 
16th.— General Sherman began his march to the sea. 

DECEMBER, 1864. 
13th.— Fort McAllister was captured by the Federals. 
16th.— The battle of Nashville, Tenn. 

25th.— The Federals were repulsed in an attack upon Fort Fisher, 
N. C. 



336 REMINISCENCES. 

JANUARY, 1865. 
15th.— Fort Fisher, N. C, was captured by the Federals. 

MARCH, 1865. 
16th.— Battle of Averysborough, N. C. 
18th.— Battle of Bentonville, N. C. 

25th. -Fort Steadman, near Petersburg, was captured by the Con- 
federates, and recaptured by the Federals. 
31st.— The battle of Five Forks, Va. 

APRIL, 1865. 

2nd.— Richmond was evacuated by the Confederates. 

6th.— Battle of Farmville, Va. 

9th.— General Lee with his army surrendered to General Grant at 
Appomattox Court House, Va. 

13th.— Mobile surrendered to a combined army and naval attack. 

lith.— The flag General Anderson had lowered at Fort Sumter was 
restored to Its position. 

14th.— President Lincoln was assassinated at Washington. He was 
Bhot in the back of the head at Ford's Theatre by Wilkes Booth, and 
died next morning. The same evening an unsuccessful attempt was 
made to assassinate the Secretary of .State, William H. Seward. 

15th.— Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, took the oath of offlce as 
President. 

26th.— General Johnston surrendered to General Sherman in North 
Carolina. 

MAY, 1865. 

5th.— Galveston, Texas, surrendered to the Federals. 

10th.— Jefferson Davis captured in Georgia. 

13th.— A skirmish took place near Brazos, in eastern Texas. 

28th.— The Confederates in Texas, under General Kirby Smith, 
surrendered. 

The Armies of the East and West were disbanded and returned home, 
after a review at Washington. 

JUNE, 1865. 
6th.— An order was issued for the release of all prisoners of war In 
the depots of the North. 

JULY, 1865. 
4th.— The corner-stone of a monument was laid at Gettysburg, Penn., 
In memory of the soldiers who fell there. 



REMINISCENCES. 



837 



MEN CALLED FOR BY PRESIDENT DURING THE WAR. 
The total quotas called for and charged against the several States of 
the Union, under all calls made by the President of the United States, 
from the 15th day of April, 1861, to the Hth day of April, 18^5, at which 
time the recruiting was stopped, was 2,759,049. 

The terms of service under the various calls varied from three 
months to three years 



UNITED STATES SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 



Aggregate. 

Connecticut 52,270 

Delaware 13,651 

District of Columbia 16,872 

Illinois 258,217 

Indiana 195,147 

Iowa 75,860 

Kansas 20,097 

Kentucky 78,510 

Maine 71,745 

Maryland 49,730 

Massachusetts 151,785 

Michigan 90,119 



Aggregate. 

Mlnneisota 25,034 

Missouri 108,773 

New Hampshire 34,605 

New Jersey 79,511 

New Yorlj 4.55,568 

Ohio 817,133 

Pennsylvania 366.326 

Rhode Island 23,711 

Vermont 35,256 

West Virginia 30,003 

Wisconsin 96,118 



Total . 



3,062 



COLORED TROOPS IN U. S. ARMY DURING THE WAR. 



Arkansas 5,526 

Alabama 4,969 

Connecticut 1,764 

Colorado Territory 95 

Delaware 954 

District of Columbia 3,269 

Florida 1,044 

Georgia 3.486 

Iowa 440 

Indiana 1,597 

Illinois 1,811 

Kansas 2,080 

Kentucky 23,703 

Louisiana 24,052 

Maryland 8,718 

Massachusetts 3,966 

Michigan 1,887 

Mississippi 17,869 

Missouri 8,344 

Minnesota 104 

23 



Maine 104 

New Hampshire 125 

New York 4,125 

New Jersey 1,185 

North Carolina 5,035 

Ohio 5,092 

Pennsylvania 8,612 

Rhode Island 1,837 

South Carolina 5,462 

Texas 47 

Tennessee 20,133 

Vermont 120 

Virginia 5,723 

West Virginia 196 

Wisconsin 155 

.\t large 733 

Not accounted for 5,083 

Officers 7,122 



Total 186,017 



838 REMINISCENCES. 

CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS SURRENDERED AT END OF WAR. 

Army of Northern Virginia, 27,806; Army of Tennessee, 31,243; 
Army of Missouri, 7,978; Army of Alabama, 42,293; Army of Trans- 
Mlsslsslppl, 17,686; at Nashville, and Chattanooga, 5,029; paroled In 
Departments of Virginia, Cumberland, Maryland, Alabama, Florida, 
Tennessee, Texas, etc., 42,189; Confederate prisoners In Northern prisons 
at the close of the war, 98,802; total Confederate Array at close, 273,025. 
A large but unknown number of Confederate soldiers were never 
formally surrendered. 



THE NEW DIXIE. 

I 
'O how I love the Land of Cotton. 
Land of memories, ne'er forgotten. 
Look away ! Look away ! Look away ! 

Dixie Land. 
In Dixie Land where skies are bluer, 
Frl'nds are dearer, hearts are truer, 
Look away ! Look away ! Look away ! 

Dixie Land. 

Chorus. 
'Oh, I love the Land of Dixie. 

Hooray ! Hooray ! 
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand, 
To live and die in Dixie. 
Away, away, away down South in Dixie. 
Away, away, away down South in Dixie. 

II 
'O Land of meadows fair and sunny, 
Flowing o'er with milk and honey, 

Look away, etc. 
O hawthorn hedges, white and hoary, 
Roses, full of Summer glory, 
Look away, etc. 
Chorus -Oh, I love the Land, etc 



REMINISCENCES. 

Ill 
'Oh Land of heroes that we cherish, 
Never shall their memory perish, 

Look away, etc. 
Remembered be their fame and glory. 
Evermore In song and story, 
Look away, etc. 
Chorus— Oh, I love the Land, etc." 



GATHER THE FLOWERS THAT BLOOM IN THE DELL. 

(Memorial Song Dedicated to the Children of the Confederacy, by 
Mrs. Lula K. Rogers.] 

(Air— Ben Bolt.) 

I 

Oh gather the Roses that bloom In the dell 

And weave Into garlands to-day. 

To place on the shrine where our soldiers repose 

From the shout of the battle away. 

On the mountain, In woodland and valley they lie 

Unhonored, unwept and alone. 

But we know that the angels are hovering nigh. 

And tenderly watch o'er the stone. 

II 
Bring too the violets that bloom in the wood 
Where they wandered in life's sunny day, 
E're the loud thund'rlng guns woke the stillness of night, 
And blighted their homes far away. 
Sweetly rest 'neath the garlands we tenderly weave. 
Love's offering dear soldiers, we bear. 
Foes may shadow the hope that Illumined the heart 
But Its memory will live ever there. 

Ill 
Oh, gather the lilies so pure and so fair 
For the hearts that were noble and true, 
Whose life blood was shed for our dear, native land 
The fairest the sun ever knew. 
Ah give them the chaplets they won In the strife 
And honor the gray that they wore. 
For in memory shall linger the gallant and brave. 
Though furled Is their flag evermore. 



340 REMINISCENCES. 

Close of Memorial Address Delivered at 

Dawson, Ga., April 26, 1911, 

By R. M. Howard. 

Sweetly in chime with the fitness of thing's it is 
that this Memorial celebration is held at this season 
of the year when the Eternal Artist is reddening- the 
heart of the rose and tinting- the cheek of the lily, 
wlien rose and lily awakened from their icy sleep of 
winter are telling- the log-ic of life after deatli in 
every petal that drinks the blood of its life from the 
ardent kiss of the sun. 

If to him who studies nature in her visible forms, 
she speaks a varied lang^uag-e, surely there is a 
sermon in every budding- tree and a song^ in every 
^opening- flower. Spring- symbolizes the dearest hope 
that dwells in human hearts, the fulfillment of the 
•sweetest prophecy ever spoken to human ears, the 
unfolding- of the deepest mystery that ever baffled 
human thoug-ht. Strike from the contemplation of 
mankind the idea of a resurrection and you darken 
the perspective of life so that at tlie end, on every 
g-rave is nig-ht and beyond every grave is naug-ht. 
The sting- of death in retroaction will poison every 
life and the victor}'^ of the g-rave will drag- at its car 
the trophied ashes of every human hope. Give back 
the promise of a soul undying-, and that Easter long- 
ag-o streaming- g-lory from the Cross will rout the 
darkness of the earth, pour radiance upon tlie g-loom 



REMINISCENCES. 841 

of the tomb and brig-hten and whiten the very valley 
of the shadow of death. 

Priceless is the faith that assures us as the gray 
ranks are thinning- out here, where the twilight is 
dropping-, the broken line is re-uniting- where the 
bug-les are blowing- sweet reveille to the waking- dawn 
of the eternal morning. Inspired by this thoug-ht, 
I catch a vision of the spectral forms of our mig-hty 
dead, and as fancy leng-thens out the vision, I seem 
to see these majestic spirits forming in a stupendous 
circle. In the center stands the transfigured and 
g-lorified symbol of the conquered South —a vestal in 
raiment of spotless white. Her snowy bosom is 
bare and a death wound in her breast is pouring- its 
red libation on Freedom's holy altar. 

And then a voice seems to drift out on the hushed 
and solemn air: 

"My bi'ow is bent beneath a heavy rod, 

My face Is wan and white with many woes; 

But I will lift my poor, chained hands to God, 

And for my children pray and for my foes. 

"Beside the graves where countless thousands lowly lie,. 
I kneel and weeping for each slaughtered son 
I turn my gaze to my own sunny sky. 
And pray, 'O Father, let Thy will be done.' " 

And now, dear friends, tendering you my true ap- 
preciation for your patience, courtesy and attention, 
I will conclude by saying-, as long- as I shall remain 
in this vale of smiles and sig-hs, sunshine and storm, 
I will ever waft you on wing-s of sweet love, fond, 



342 REMINISCENCES. 

fadeless memories of this hallowed Memorial Day. 
"Farewell, farewell is a lonely sound, and always 
bringfs a sig"h, but the heart feels most when the lips 
move not and the eyes speak a gfentle g-ood-bye." 
The old g-uard dies, but never surrenders; no, never, 
never, and for Dixie, dear old Dixie, God knows we 
yet would lay us down and die! 

In the brilliant period begfinning- in the year 1861 
and ending: in 1865, the South g-ave to the world new 
examples of patriotism, to the orator new topics of 
eloquence, to the statesman new subjects of thought, 
to the poet new themes of song-, to the soldier new 
models for imitation, to her sons and her daugfhters 
a matchlessl^'and imperishable roll of heroes and 
heroines, and to her soil the blood of the very flower 
of her chivalry that consecrated it and forever ren- 
dered it sacred. 

"Ohllf there beon this earthly sphere, 
A boon, an offering Heaven holds dear, 
'Tls the last libation Liberty draws 
From the heart that bleeds and breaks In her cause." 

There is no duty^more binding- on a people than 
that of preserving- and cherishing- the memory of 
their patriotic dead. There is no trust more sacred 
than that of guarding- and keeping- pure and un- 
sullied the fame and honor of those who fell in the 
defense of their country. The country that is in- 
different to the fame and honor of its heroic dead 
forfeits all claim to the devotion and loyalty of its 



REMINISCENCES. 848 

livingf sons. The people who disregrard and forget 
their patriotic martyrs will soon fail to have heroes 
to honor and remember. 

"No country ever had truer sons, no cause nobler 
champions, no people braver defenders, no ag'e more 
valiant knigfhts, no principle purer victims" than 
our immortal Confederate dead whose life blood en- 
crimsoned the trenches around Petersburg- and 
Vicksburgf, the hills and valleys around Richmond 
and Franklin, the plains of Manassas, the wooded 
knobs and dells around Atlanta, the shadowy forests 
of Chickamaugfa and Chancellorsville, the dark 
ravines of Shiloh and the Wilderness and the rock- 
ribbed heigrhts of Sharpsburgf and Gettysburg:. 

Ah! it is indeed sad to realize that the muffled 
drum has beat their last tattoo, and that we shall 
never agrain meet them on life's parade — 

"On Fame's eternal camping ground 
Their silent tents are spread, 
And Glory guards with solemn round 
The bivouac of the dead." 

"How sleep the brave who sank to rest 

By all their country's wishes blest; 
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
Returns to deck their hallowed mold, 

She then shall dress a sweeter sod 

Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. 
"By fairy hands their knell Is rung. 

By forms unseen their dirge Is sung. 
There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
To bless the turf that wraps their clay. 

And Freedom shall awhile repair 

To dwell a weeping hermit there." 



844 REMINISCENCES. 

The cause for which they fought and fell was lost. 
The hopes they so dearly cherished were crushed. 
The Confederate battle fiagf, which they loved so 
well, was furled with no stain or soil of dishonor 
thereon, but around it was wreathed the g"lory of 
hundreds of victorious battlefields, while its shell 
and shot torn rents and remnants were undying' em- 
blems of the heroic duty of the heroic men who 
foug-ht beneath its folds and whose achievements 
shall deathless be upon the scroll of history and 
upon the lips of poetry. 



Several years ag^o I became a member of the Pres- 
byterian Church of this city, and as "hope spring's 
eternal in the human breast," I have an abiding' 
faith and trust that both by example and precept 
my last days in this vale of sig^hs and smiles may 
prove to be my sweetest and best. The pessimist at 
all times sing's: 



"Ever thus from childhood's hour, 

I've seen ray fondest hopes decay; 
I never loved a tree nor flower, 

But 'twas the first to fade away; 
1 never nursed a dear gazelle 

To glad me with its soft black eye 
But when It first knew me well 

And loved me It was sure to die." 



REMINISCENCES. 846 

Now hear the melody of the happy optimist, as he 
sweetly sings: 

"There Is a jewel which uo Indian mine can bay, 
No chemlc art can counterfeit; 
It makes men rich in greatest poverty, 
Makes water wine, turns wooden cups to gold, 
The horn whistle to sweet music's strain; 
Seldom it comes, to few from Heaven sent. 
That much is little— all in naught— content." 

Why pluck thistles, when earth teems with beauti- 
ful thornless roses, whose every unfolding petal 
proclaims God's changeless attributes of infinite 
love and boundless mercy? 

"Life Is but a strife, tls a babble, 'tis a dieam. 
And man Is but the little boat that paddles down the stream." 

And if man will only take Faith, Hope and Char- 
ity (and the greatest of these is Charity) as his un- 
erring chart by which to steer his frail barque, he 
will safely and securely anchor his little craft in the 
beautiful fadeless haven of Eternity "where the 
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at 
rest." 

"A.nd when he's been there ten thousand years. 
Bright shining as the sun, 
He will have no less days to sing his praise 
Than when he first begun. 
"Who, who would live always away from his God, 
Away from yon Heaven, that blissful abode, 
Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains 
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns? 
"80 let my past stand, just as it stands. 
And let me now, as I may grow old, 
1 am what I am, and my life for me 
Is the best, or it had not been, I hold." 



848 REMINISCENCES. 

FINIS. 

"We buy ashes for bread, 
We buy diluted wine; 
Give me the tree— 

Whose am pie leaves and tendrils curled 
Among the silver hills of Heaven, 
Draw everlasting dew." 

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; 
Full many a flower Is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power. 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike the Inevitable hour; 
The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

"No farther seek his merits to disclose. 
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode; 
There they alike. In trembling hope repose, 
The bosom of hla Father and his God." 




APB 25 1912 



